A rapid change close to the point when change is needed
We see these types of things happen all the time -- notably on 'real life' cop shows. Either you steer early and avoid an obstacle, or you yank the wheel at the last second, lose traction, and skid into oblivion anyway.
I'll take the first choice, thanks. That way we can know earlier whether it's working or not, and take extra steps if necessary.
You're catching buzzwords and missing the point. The P-IV processor is packaged in materials not known for their radiation absorption. While the heat spreader is nickel-coated copper, the substrate itself is "Fiber-reinforced resin." (P-IV Datasheet, Page 55)
Plastic.
I have never seen a Pentium (MMX | Pro | II | III | IV) use a grounded heatsink, either.
If you were harboring any illusions that Intel puts shielding in its' processors, please check them at the door, thankyouverymuch. That's what the computer case is for.
If you've ever looked at a Class B (that's home use!) shielded case, you'll see the (unused) external drive bays covered with metal. IBM used to put a very nice braided wire rope gasket on the joints of the PS/1 (among others). You'll also find similar leakage prevention in many rack-mount servers.
Heck, the PS/1 was in the original Pentium days, when processors were running at 200 MHz -- that means a 1.5-meter (nearly 59-inch!) wavelength! All that shielding effort wasn't just for fun, you know.
And, since I'm bothering to respond to all this, I might as well make a point about Faraday Cages:
Look at your microwave oven. Specifically, the shielding for the window -- or find one that
has a window if yours doesn't. The holes are quite small. (The energy that oven puts out is at nearly the same frequency as this version of the P-IV, incidentally.)
Now, what if I were to cut a 3-inch hole in that window? It's easily smaller than the 5-inch / 12.5-cm wavelength. By your logic, no radiation will escape. Would you be willing to turn it on and stand directly in front of it for an extended length of time?
First, I never said the pins were carrying 2.4 GHz signals. I said they were "waveguide-like". They will likely facilitate the radiation of some of the ~75 watts dissipated inside the chip package. Simple physics: energy goes from source to sink -- there is less similar radiation outside the package, thus there will be leakage. Fact of life. Need to reduce / prevent interference? That's what the grounded metal case is for.
Second, at 2.4 GHz a signal doesn't follow a wire (or a circuit board trace) like it does at 60 Hz. At 2.4 GHz a wire is more of a 'suggestion' than a 'command'. This is why (radar | microwave ovens | certain satellite communication systems) use waveguides instead of wires. It's also one of the reasons everything isn't running at the same clock speed.
Third, one of the Ten Commandments of/. -- Thou shalt query Google.
None of these are PCMCIA > PCI adapters, though some of them look like they're using the same innards. I'm not even going to include all the 'Mini-PCI' cards being used in laptops these days. Yes, they all have some shielding. No, it's not as complete as a PCMCIA card -- if I even dare call that complete.
PCI Cards are installed with the PCB facing in the general direction of the processor (in the ATX spec). I don't know the shielding capabilities of circuit board material, but it sure isn't a solid conductor -- and... many of your traces are exposed to the radiation inside the case. This is where I expect problems and performance degradation to have their roots.
Perhaps you remember a few years ago when it was trendy to install shielding around your audio card for a greater Signal/Noise Ratio? I saw people use copper flashing (the stuff you use to keep your roof from leaking) to construct a box, doing a very nice soldering job, use stand-offs for installation... all to remove a little static. The whole trick was to construct a Faraday cage that would allow the ISA connector (remember those?) as little clearance as possible, without actually shorting it.
Couple that amount of power with 478 waveguide-like pins to direct it, and you've got yourself a nice little white-noise broadcasting station. Just for kicks, I'd like to see the performance of an 802.11b PCI card trying to coexist with one of these!
How long before some clueless induhvidual brings one of these (in a case with a window mod, thus defeating the Faraday-cage effect) to a LAN party? I give it a couple weeks.
Let's see... P-IV @ 75 watts, vs. 802.11b @ about 1 watt? Which one do you think will win?
The noise floor for 802.11b is going up a few steps, that's for damn sure.
Outrageous fees per kilobyte (want a discount to buy blocks of megabytes? forget it...)
Oh, and about that modem offering up 8 IPs? You can forget about that feature ever seeing the light of day -- unless you pay them a few (hundred | thousand) extra dollars a month.
I miss Ricochet. I ended up moving into an area where they offered service -- 6 months too late. (Dammit.) They were the only ones offering flat-rate service, although only at 128-256 Kbit. Yes, I know they're trying to re-light the network, but that's not happening up here -- at the last I'd heard.
1. THIS WAS A SERVICE TEST. They set up a few cell towers just for this engineering test.
2. Fat chance any cell provider will give you an all-you-can-eat plan! That's for businesses, you don't need that! You're just a consumer so take our advertising and consume!
Feh.
I've become so cynical regarding cellphone companies and their greed that I can easily see them crippling this service to the point where it's no fun for any of us. I expect:
Throttled service levels (want more speed? PAY!)
Outrageous fees per kilobyte (want a discount to buy blocks of bytes? forget it...)
and "service" plans that sell you a dozen features you don't want, just to get the features you do.
We've become so used to "paying for minutes" that the cellphone companies aren't going to let that go without (1) a lot of money, or (2) a fight. I know people that pay "only" $40/month for cell service, yet barely use a quarter of their 'allotment' -- the rest of their money is wasted! It amazes me that people continue to accept this... I guess it shouldn't.
You are correct, the character was a Japanese fellow who felt he'd been dishonored. That doesn't make him any less of a terrorist, and I'd argue he certainly qualified for the "lunatic" adjective. Even considering the choice of a 747 as a weapon, he stole a fueled, but otherwise empty, one. No hijacking, no passengers, no coordinated acts, etc. Prescient as Mr. Clancy was, he didn't go THAT far.
"...it hacks me off that people out there really do believe money replaces a life and are willing to sue airlines/governments/anyone who might vaguely be responsible for letting this happen."
I would like to know his thoughts about writing something, then (very nearly) witnessing it. It's probably out there somewhere -- I just haven't looked hard enough to find it.
Appears my aging memory combined events in "Debt of Honor" and "Executive Orders". Crash happens at the end of the first book, political maneuvering happens in the second.
16 days after Sept 11th, I received this in an email from my father, (who happens to be a Mechanical Engineer):
Professor Thomas Mackin, who currently teaches Failure Mechanisms in Engineering Materials class, made this short presentation (attached) after the World Trade Tower tragedy. This presentation was made in response to the
Chancellor's request for teachers to discuss with their classes the recent events. Mackin was clearly as shaken up about the events as were the rest of us. He only had a short response to his final question: "As engineers, what can we do to prevent this from happening. - Nothing."
There was simply too much energy put into the buildings. bin Laden knew that, the engineers know that... it's a damn shame we're back to the accusations, finger-pointing, and blame-placing that so much plagues our culture.
The engineers did their job. They did it well. World Trade Center 1 & 2 were good buildings -- I stood on top of one just over 10 years ago. I can hardly believe I never will again.
Osama bin Laden and his cronies are the ones -- the ONLY ones -- responsible for this outrage. Please, let's try to remember that.
I didn't figure I really had to go into details, but I will now.
My wireless access point doesn't get much use. I've noticed exactly ONE other person use it in the nearly 6 months it has been available. Their traffic was IM (ICQ) and HTTP, mainly hitting MSN and Hotmail. It lasted about 2 weeks, then disappeared. I figure it was someone visiting in a nearby apartment.
I don't advertise its' availability, and I have no intentions of installing a high-gain antenna. If you stumble upon it, fine -- it's 802.11a (54 Mbit, Intel mfg.), which a lot of people don't have equipment for. If you do have equipment (and it manages to be compatible -- 802.11a is known for not playing 'nice'), you'll get a DHCP offer in the 10.n.n.n range. Have a ball; I'm altruistic like that.
I do watch its' usage -- both destination addresses and traffic types. If it spikes, I'll just install traffic-shaping on the firewall.
In short, I like my ISP. I get the usage I want from them, and I'm not going to do anything to drive them out of business. I know the realities, I'm not going to try and bend the laws of "business physics."
Sure, I could set up a server to host many domains.
What I was referring to, though, was Blarg's "Primary or Secondary DNS for two domains" service that comes with my account. (I'm using Verizon's 768/128 line rate -- that's the fastest I can get at my distance.)
I would hope that authorities would be able to discern that you -- even though it was your connection -- were not the cause.
Since Joltage has an authentication & billing system in place, it would be relatively easy to associate a Joltage Provider (the person who's running that particular access point) with the Joltage User (the one who broke the law).
It raises a good question though -- what kind of (browsing | usage) information is Joltage collecting on its' users? What exactly is their software capable of, and (going even further...) is it going to spy on the Joltage "Providers"?
They got me installed when Verizon said I wasn't in a servicable area
I have their SO/HO level of service
I can run servers
I can host my own domain (two, actually!)
I can NAT and firewall to my heart's content
I don't have to deal with PPPoE (straight bridge config)
I get 5 IPs...
(Can you tell I like this company?)
But even with all this freedom, I am still not allowed to re-sell access. I run an 802.11a access point, and it's NAT'd off on its' own -- anyone can connect... but I am contractually prohibited from profiting from it.
Personally, I don't think Blarg would have kittens over this. They're not "like that." Object, yes... charge me more, yes. Call in the National Guard... no. However, I can see other ISPs (Comcast comes to mind, with their NAT inquisition) that will scream that this is the end of the world.
The direction recording capability isn't there, and the mapping features you request aren't included with any software bundle I'm aware of. I'd think that, with a non-trivial amount of effort (and some simple, moderately complex, or downright expensive software), your goals are achievable.
Please take those same people who you claim are satisfied with a 56K modem, and have them browse apple.com/trailers. Perhaps show them how good some of these teasers look at their larger sizes and on fast connections, then ask them if 56K is "enough."
I certainly hope that this is legal content, as it's provided courtesy, and in furtherance of, your industry!
Furthermore, realize that the manner in which these trailers are presented desperately demands broadband. For an average user, every viewing of your content requires a connection to apple.com. Consider their advertising effect on your products... I strongly feel the ability to have a local copy of them would noticably result in greater rental and pay-per-view revenue. It would provide a rich catalog; with instantly-available local content people could realize a wider range of your industry's offerings.
Unfortunately, current broadband speeds are not sufficient if I wish to view several trailers in a search for an entertainment selection. With further copying prevention and content protections, you are going to force people to realize that your entertainment isn't quite as entertaining as you'd like to have people believe.
Perhaps that's not a bad thing.
Okay, that's my two cents. Can't say I've downloaded the large Debian ISOs, but I have done Solaris 8. That was a lot of data! This audience isn't exactly in the middle of the bell curve, but I'm afraid we're part of the minority that's paying attention.
"when two elephants fight, and the outcome is important to you, get your ass in there and start pounding on the enemy elephant!"
BAD idea. They make elephant guns for a reason! Getting "in there" gets you squashed, as the article points out. We're supposed to be smarter than that -- we need to be encouraging lawyers (EFF, etc.), buying our own legislators, and educating other voters!!
I did this experiment: I talked to some other customers in Best Buy once -- we were in front of the HDTVs.
"Do you know they're still fighting over the broadcast standard?"
"Do you know the broadcasters want to be able to stop you from recording HDTV programs?"
"Do you know where you can get HDTV content?"
"Nope"
"Nope"
And...
"I think our cable system carries it."
It turned out the person I'd chosen was the vice-president of the local (about 300 person) Cigna office. Lawyer by education, manager by profession. Neither her, nor her husband, had heard a thing about the battles we flame about on a daily basis!
...or has anyone else found it amusing that his name is Adam Schiff?
The same name as the District Attorney character on Law & Order, (a few seasons removed)?
Re: Corporate spyware "visibility"
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Spy v. Spy
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· Score: 2
You are right, a corporation that uses blatant spyware will probably deter unwanted activity. If that happens, then (one way or another) the software has done its' job. On the other hand, simple deterrance means the root of the problem is still in place.
However, corporate IS doesn't have any requirement to install visible spyware, either! Take the situation of a consultant, for example:
The employees (at the client company) aren't expecting spyware -- their company hasn't used it, so they feel free to do [whatever].
If [$consultant] installs SMS, some people would notice, and realize there's monitoring potential.
So, they install invisible spyware instead -- and watch the bad apples to reveal themselves.
Client received a rather large bill -- "Consider how much more you would have lost if we hadn't caught [$wasteful_or_illegal_activity]..."
Invisibility has benefits -- "good" and bad. "Good" if the (police | FBI) use it with an appropriate warrrant, bad if the rest of us start spying on each other as a matter of course.
This feels very much like the RADAR vs. RADAR-detector wars -- an endless cycle of 'mine is better than yours'.
Re: Corporate use of spyware
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· Score: 5, Insightful
I've read about the use of spyware in the past... some very large companies make use of it. I seem to remember that Deloitte & Touche uses some spyware that's rather... comprehensive. I want to say some of the features included (among other things)...
Logging every keystroke you make
Logging the title of every window you open
Recording screenshots of windows
E-Mailing all of this to a designated person...
Not only is it something they use internally, it's also something they use in their consulting activities, on their clients' computers! You hire them, and you're under a microscope... very Big Brother. It goes way beyond the spying that's possible with the last version of Microsoft SMS that I used. (I admit, it's been a while!) Also, I've noticed that some people really don't pay attention to the fact that SMS has 'remote viewing' capabilities -- your sysadmin can watch you browse just like he/she watches the evening news. Then again, SMS's installation is rather obvious -- at least to the technically inclined.
I have to consider the other hand as well... If you're hiring a consulting company, they have an obligation to do their job to the best of their ability. That means using all the resources legally available to them -- no matter how distasteful. If you've got someone who's supposed to be doing data entry, and they're actually running their own little eBay store out of the supply room... well, you're going to need all the ammo you can get to convince the boss to fire his brother!
With the sentiment of "It's OUR computer, OUR time, and OUR money!", I don't think you're going to be seeing spyware-free companies advertising the fact anytime soon.
In fact, with the precedent that computers have been and continue to be monitored; a company could incur severe liability for deliberately not monitoring! Consider the potential liability burden when you don't catch sexual harrasment or some particularly nasty criminal activity... What happens to the company when it's shown that 'standard industry practices' would have given advance warning of, or even prevented [some illegal event]?
What happens? A check with LOTS of zeros to the left of the decimal... at the best, your lawyer gets it. At worst, THEIR lawyer gets one, THEY get one, etc...
"...heat its contents approximately 75 degrees Fahrenheit above the starting temperature of the product."
Let's see... the forcast for Killington, VT (USA) today is for highs of 34F (1C) and lows of 5F (-15C). (There's a popular ski area there for those of you who aren't familiar.)
Wind chill doesn't apply, so figure ambient (plus a gimme factor for residual temp + insulation) plus 75F, and you're looking at 109F (43C) during the day, and 80F (27C) at night while you're trapped in a tree and the ski patrol's searching for your freezing ass. Not exactly what I'd call 'toasty warm.'
So, if you're skiing and packing your coffee | soup | chili in a backpack... don't expect the warmest meal. As for less extreme situations... I can nuke my hot chocolate a lotfaster in the microwave at work, and I'm not so damn lazy I can't get up from my desk to do it.
I think this'll sell for a short period just due to the "Hey, cool!" factor, and then die due to expense.
You might remember this one: Congressman Dingell (who has a metal hip) gets strip-searched. Looks like it happened on January 5, 2002.
At least they didn't try to carve it out. On the other hand, he probably got preferential treatment 'cause he's a high-and-mighty elected official. (Yeah, right.)
<joke> I guess the people manning that particular security station voted for his opponent... </joke>
Let me get this right... you buy a used computer, and then go straight to the manufacturer for replacement parts??? (Surely you know 'accessories' are one of their higher-margin profit centers!)
Still... if you're in the Seattle, WA area, stop in the Boeing Surplus Retail Store. I was there last week, and they had a bucket of what looked like 80-pin 2.1GB Compaq hot-plug drives. They were just sitting there next to a cash register like candy would be at a supermarket. I don't remember the price, but I want to say they wanted ~$5 each for 'em.
They were also selling an Indigo ($50), lots of PCs (mostly old Dell OptiPlex models, $20 - $300, Pentium MMXs to P-IIs), and even a Barco data-grade projector ($2500). Fun place to go and blow half a day poking around.
There are various types of officers in the military... Flag officers, Field Grade officers, etc. The Navy has (in addition to numerous other classifications) LDOs, or Limited Duty Officers.
So, courtesy of the United States Navy's Naval Nuclear Power Training Command (NNPTC), I offer you the...
Direct Input Limited Duty Officer, or DILDO
I have to assume that they didn't acronym-ize it right off when they chose the name, they aren't that dense. It went into actual use, and there were some affected officers who were genuinely offended by the acronym. It caused the whole title to be changed very quickly.
Slashdot Mirror
Interesting choice...
- A small rate of change over a very long time
- A rapid change close to the point when change is needed
We see these types of things happen all the time -- notably on 'real life' cop shows. Either you steer early and avoid an obstacle, or you yank the wheel at the last second, lose traction, and skid into oblivion anyway.(OR)
I'll take the first choice, thanks. That way we can know earlier whether it's working or not, and take extra steps if necessary.
"Waveguide"
"Faraday Cage"
You're catching buzzwords and missing the point. The P-IV processor is packaged in materials not known for their radiation absorption. While the heat spreader is nickel-coated copper, the substrate itself is "Fiber-reinforced resin." (P-IV Datasheet, Page 55)
Plastic.
I have never seen a Pentium (MMX | Pro | II | III | IV) use a grounded heatsink, either.
If you were harboring any illusions that Intel puts shielding in its' processors, please check them at the door, thankyouverymuch. That's what the computer case is for.
If you've ever looked at a Class B (that's home use!) shielded case, you'll see the (unused) external drive bays covered with metal. IBM used to put a very nice braided wire rope gasket on the joints of the PS/1 (among others). You'll also find similar leakage prevention in many rack-mount servers.
Heck, the PS/1 was in the original Pentium days, when processors were running at 200 MHz -- that means a 1.5-meter (nearly 59-inch!) wavelength! All that shielding effort wasn't just for fun, you know.
And, since I'm bothering to respond to all this, I might as well make a point about Faraday Cages:
Now, what if I were to cut a 3-inch hole in that window? It's easily smaller than the 5-inch / 12.5-cm wavelength. By your logic, no radiation will escape. Would you be willing to turn it on and stand directly in front of it for an extended length of time?
(Hint: not a good idea.)
First, I never said the pins were carrying 2.4 GHz signals. I said they were "waveguide-like". They will likely facilitate the radiation of some of the ~75 watts dissipated inside the chip package. Simple physics: energy goes from source to sink -- there is less similar radiation outside the package, thus there will be leakage. Fact of life. Need to reduce / prevent interference? That's what the grounded metal case is for.
Second, at 2.4 GHz a signal doesn't follow a wire (or a circuit board trace) like it does at 60 Hz. At 2.4 GHz a wire is more of a 'suggestion' than a 'command'. This is why (radar | microwave ovens | certain satellite communication systems) use waveguides instead of wires. It's also one of the reasons everything isn't running at the same clock speed.
Third, one of the Ten Commandments of /. -- Thou shalt query Google.
- Arcowave AWL-1100P
- D-Link DWL-520
- Intel PRO/Wireless 2011B LAN PCI Adapter
- LG Wireless PCI Card
- Linksys WMP11
- Proxim Harmony 802.11b PCI Card
- Samsung SWL-2000P or SWL-2100P
None of these are PCMCIA > PCI adapters, though some of them look like they're using the same innards. I'm not even going to include all the 'Mini-PCI' cards being used in laptops these days. Yes, they all have some shielding. No, it's not as complete as a PCMCIA card -- if I even dare call that complete.PCI Cards are installed with the PCB facing in the general direction of the processor (in the ATX spec). I don't know the shielding capabilities of circuit board material, but it sure isn't a solid conductor -- and... many of your traces are exposed to the radiation inside the case. This is where I expect problems and performance degradation to have their roots.
Perhaps you remember a few years ago when it was trendy to install shielding around your audio card for a greater Signal/Noise Ratio? I saw people use copper flashing (the stuff you use to keep your roof from leaking) to construct a box, doing a very nice soldering job, use stand-offs for installation... all to remove a little static. The whole trick was to construct a Faraday cage that would allow the ISA connector (remember those?) as little clearance as possible, without actually shorting it.
We may see a resurgence of that technique.
Bullshit.
Intel's P-IV (including 2.4 GHz) datasheet states the power consumption at 49.8 amps @ 1.5 volts. That means nearly 75 watts!
Couple that amount of power with 478 waveguide-like pins to direct it, and you've got yourself a nice little white-noise broadcasting station. Just for kicks, I'd like to see the performance of an 802.11b PCI card trying to coexist with one of these!
How long before some clueless induhvidual brings one of these (in a case with a window mod, thus defeating the Faraday-cage effect) to a LAN party? I give it a couple weeks.
Let's see... P-IV @ 75 watts, vs. 802.11b @ about 1 watt? Which one do you think will win?
The noise floor for 802.11b is going up a few steps, that's for damn sure.
The line was supposed to read:
- Outrageous fees per kilobyte (want a discount to buy blocks of megabytes? forget it...)
Oh, and about that modem offering up 8 IPs? You can forget about that feature ever seeing the light of day -- unless you pay them a few (hundred | thousand) extra dollars a month.I miss Ricochet. I ended up moving into an area where they offered service -- 6 months too late. (Dammit.) They were the only ones offering flat-rate service, although only at 128-256 Kbit. Yes, I know they're trying to re-light the network, but that's not happening up here -- at the last I'd heard.
1. THIS WAS A SERVICE TEST. They set up a few cell towers just for this engineering test.
2. Fat chance any cell provider will give you an all-you-can-eat plan! That's for businesses, you don't need that! You're just a consumer so take our advertising and consume!
Feh.
I've become so cynical regarding cellphone companies and their greed that I can easily see them crippling this service to the point where it's no fun for any of us. I expect:
- Throttled service levels (want more speed? PAY!)
- Outrageous fees per kilobyte (want a discount to buy blocks of bytes? forget it...)
- and "service" plans that sell you a dozen features you don't want, just to get the features you do.
We've become so used to "paying for minutes" that the cellphone companies aren't going to let that go without (1) a lot of money, or (2) a fight. I know people that pay "only" $40/month for cell service, yet barely use a quarter of their 'allotment' -- the rest of their money is wasted! It amazes me that people continue to accept this... I guess it shouldn't.You are correct, the character was a Japanese fellow who felt he'd been dishonored. That doesn't make him any less of a terrorist, and I'd argue he certainly qualified for the "lunatic" adjective. Even considering the choice of a 747 as a weapon, he stole a fueled, but otherwise empty, one. No hijacking, no passengers, no coordinated acts, etc. Prescient as Mr. Clancy was, he didn't go THAT far.
- "...it hacks me off that people out there really do believe money replaces a life and are willing to sue airlines/governments/anyone who might vaguely be responsible for letting this happen."
DAMN skippy. 'Nuff said.As far as Tom Clancy's reaction to Sept. 11th...
- "First we crippled the CIA. Then we blamed it."
I would like to know his thoughts about writing something, then (very nearly) witnessing it. It's probably out there somewhere -- I just haven't looked hard enough to find it.Ah. Thank you.
Appears my aging memory combined events in "Debt of Honor" and "Executive Orders". Crash happens at the end of the first book, political maneuvering happens in the second.
Tom Clancy beat you to that one.
I think it was "Executive Orders"
- Crazy lunatic terrorist crashes 747 into joint session of Congress which the president is addressing
- Hero Jack Ryan (appointed VP for some reason, I forget...) is the most senior to survive, becomes President
- Jack Ryan 'strongly encourages' voters to elect non-politicians to refill the House of Representatives and the Senate (Woo Hoo!!!)
Sound familiar?16 days after Sept 11th, I received this in an email from my father, (who happens to be a Mechanical Engineer):
- Professor Thomas Mackin, who currently teaches Failure Mechanisms in Engineering Materials class, made this short presentation (attached) after the World Trade Tower tragedy. This presentation was made in response to the
Chancellor's request for teachers to discuss with their classes the recent events. Mackin was clearly as shaken up about the events as were the rest of us. He only had a short response to his final question: "As engineers, what can we do to prevent this from happening. - Nothing."
There was simply too much energy put into the buildings. bin Laden knew that, the engineers know that... it's a damn shame we're back to the accusations, finger-pointing, and blame-placing that so much plagues our culture.Attached was a .PDF file, "ME 346 - Engineering Analysis of Tragedy at WTC."
The engineers did their job. They did it well. World Trade Center 1 & 2 were good buildings -- I stood on top of one just over 10 years ago. I can hardly believe I never will again.
Osama bin Laden and his cronies are the ones -- the ONLY ones -- responsible for this outrage. Please, let's try to remember that.
Absolutely.
I didn't figure I really had to go into details, but I will now.
- My wireless access point doesn't get much use. I've noticed exactly ONE other person use it in the nearly 6 months it has been available. Their traffic was IM (ICQ) and HTTP, mainly hitting MSN and Hotmail. It lasted about 2 weeks, then disappeared. I figure it was someone visiting in a nearby apartment.
- I don't advertise its' availability, and I have no intentions of installing a high-gain antenna. If you stumble upon it, fine -- it's 802.11a (54 Mbit, Intel mfg.), which a lot of people don't have equipment for. If you do have equipment (and it manages to be compatible -- 802.11a is known for not playing 'nice'), you'll get a DHCP offer in the 10.n.n.n range. Have a ball; I'm altruistic like that.
- I do watch its' usage -- both destination addresses and traffic types. If it spikes, I'll just install traffic-shaping on the firewall.
In short, I like my ISP. I get the usage I want from them, and I'm not going to do anything to drive them out of business. I know the realities, I'm not going to try and bend the laws of "business physics."Sure, I could set up a server to host many domains.
What I was referring to, though, was Blarg's "Primary or Secondary DNS for two domains" service that comes with my account. (I'm using Verizon's 768/128 line rate -- that's the fastest I can get at my distance.)
I would hope that authorities would be able to discern that you -- even though it was your connection -- were not the cause.
Since Joltage has an authentication & billing system in place, it would be relatively easy to associate a Joltage Provider (the person who's running that particular access point) with the Joltage User (the one who broke the law).
It raises a good question though -- what kind of (browsing | usage) information is Joltage collecting on its' users? What exactly is their software capable of, and (going even further...) is it going to spy on the Joltage "Providers"?
Serious problem... Joltage wants to encourage people by paying them to extend their network. Many of the benefits, none of the work... nice idea.
The problem is that most end-user DSL (and all consumer cablemodem that I've seen!) Acceptable Use Policies explicitly prohibit reselling the service!
I'm signed up with a Washington State DSL ISP that has been incredible --
- They got me installed when Verizon said I wasn't in a servicable area
- I have their SO/HO level of service
- I can run servers
- I can host my own domain (two, actually!)
- I can NAT and firewall to my heart's content
- I don't have to deal with PPPoE (straight bridge config)
- I get 5 IPs...
But even with all this freedom, I am still not allowed to re-sell access. I run an 802.11a access point, and it's NAT'd off on its' own -- anyone can connect... but I am contractually prohibited from profiting from it.(Can you tell I like this company?)
Personally, I don't think Blarg would have kittens over this. They're not "like that." Object, yes... charge me more, yes. Call in the National Guard... no. However, I can see other ISPs (Comcast comes to mind, with their NAT inquisition) that will scream that this is the end of the world.
90% of what you're asking for is available with the Nikon D1X and D1H models. Both are capable of recording data from a NMEA compliant GPS unit:
- http://www.nikontechusa.com/Nikontechnicalnote9.h
t m
The direction recording capability isn't there, and the mapping features you request aren't included with any software bundle I'm aware of. I'd think that, with a non-trivial amount of effort (and some simple, moderately complex, or downright expensive software), your goals are achievable.Please take those same people who you claim are satisfied with a 56K modem, and have them browse apple.com/trailers. Perhaps show them how good some of these teasers look at their larger sizes and on fast connections, then ask them if 56K is "enough."
I certainly hope that this is legal content, as it's provided courtesy, and in furtherance of, your industry!
Furthermore, realize that the manner in which these trailers are presented desperately demands broadband. For an average user, every viewing of your content requires a connection to apple.com. Consider their advertising effect on your products... I strongly feel the ability to have a local copy of them would noticably result in greater rental and pay-per-view revenue. It would provide a rich catalog; with instantly-available local content people could realize a wider range of your industry's offerings.
Unfortunately, current broadband speeds are not sufficient if I wish to view several trailers in a search for an entertainment selection. With further copying prevention and content protections, you are going to force people to realize that your entertainment isn't quite as entertaining as you'd like to have people believe.
Perhaps that's not a bad thing.
Okay, that's my two cents. Can't say I've downloaded the large Debian ISOs, but I have done Solaris 8. That was a lot of data! This audience isn't exactly in the middle of the bell curve, but I'm afraid we're part of the minority that's paying attention.
- "when two elephants fight, and the outcome is important to you, get your ass in there and start pounding on the enemy elephant!"
BAD idea. They make elephant guns for a reason! Getting "in there" gets you squashed, as the article points out. We're supposed to be smarter than that -- we need to be encouraging lawyers (EFF, etc.), buying our own legislators, and educating other voters!!I did this experiment: I talked to some other customers in Best Buy once -- we were in front of the HDTVs.
- "Do you know they're still fighting over the broadcast standard?"
- "Do you know the broadcasters want to be able to stop you from recording HDTV programs?"
- "Do you know where you can get HDTV content?"
It turned out the person I'd chosen was the vice-president of the local (about 300 person) Cigna office. Lawyer by education, manager by profession. Neither her, nor her husband, had heard a thing about the battles we flame about on a daily basis!"Nope"
"Nope"
And...
"I think our cable system carries it."
Ouch.
The same name as the District Attorney character on Law & Order, (a few seasons removed)?
You are right, a corporation that uses blatant spyware will probably deter unwanted activity. If that happens, then (one way or another) the software has done its' job. On the other hand, simple deterrance means the root of the problem is still in place.
However, corporate IS doesn't have any requirement to install visible spyware, either! Take the situation of a consultant, for example:
- The employees (at the client company) aren't expecting spyware -- their company hasn't used it, so they feel free to do [whatever].
- If [$consultant] installs SMS, some people would notice, and realize there's monitoring potential.
- So, they install invisible spyware instead -- and watch the bad apples to reveal themselves.
- Client received a rather large bill -- "Consider how much more you would have lost if we hadn't caught [$wasteful_or_illegal_activity]..."
Invisibility has benefits -- "good" and bad. "Good" if the (police | FBI) use it with an appropriate warrrant, bad if the rest of us start spying on each other as a matter of course.This feels very much like the RADAR vs. RADAR-detector wars -- an endless cycle of 'mine is better than yours'.
I've read about the use of spyware in the past... some very large companies make use of it. I seem to remember that Deloitte & Touche uses some spyware that's rather... comprehensive. I want to say some of the features included (among other things)...
- Logging every keystroke you make
- Logging the title of every window you open
- Recording screenshots of windows
- E-Mailing all of this to a designated person...
Not only is it something they use internally, it's also something they use in their consulting activities, on their clients' computers! You hire them, and you're under a microscope... very Big Brother. It goes way beyond the spying that's possible with the last version of Microsoft SMS that I used. (I admit, it's been a while!) Also, I've noticed that some people really don't pay attention to the fact that SMS has 'remote viewing' capabilities -- your sysadmin can watch you browse just like he/she watches the evening news. Then again, SMS's installation is rather obvious -- at least to the technically inclined.I have to consider the other hand as well... If you're hiring a consulting company, they have an obligation to do their job to the best of their ability. That means using all the resources legally available to them -- no matter how distasteful. If you've got someone who's supposed to be doing data entry, and they're actually running their own little eBay store out of the supply room... well, you're going to need all the ammo you can get to convince the boss to fire his brother!
With the sentiment of "It's OUR computer, OUR time, and OUR money!", I don't think you're going to be seeing spyware-free companies advertising the fact anytime soon.
In fact, with the precedent that computers have been and continue to be monitored; a company could incur severe liability for deliberately not monitoring! Consider the potential liability burden when you don't catch sexual harrasment or some particularly nasty criminal activity... What happens to the company when it's shown that 'standard industry practices' would have given advance warning of, or even prevented [some illegal event]?
What happens? A check with LOTS of zeros to the left of the decimal... at the best, your lawyer gets it. At worst, THEIR lawyer gets one, THEY get one, etc...
Ha!
I don't know if I'd want that. There'd be people wanting to use it all the time, and people using it when I'm not around (and then leaving a mess)...
I like our Amana anyway... It can reduce popcorn to a smoking pile of carbon faster than you can say "It's only a microwave! How powerful can it be?"
Besides, I don't have a 220v plug at my desk. (And thank God for that! I'd probably glow in the dark if I spent too much time near that thing!)
In part of their description, they state that their product will...
- "...heat its contents approximately 75 degrees Fahrenheit above the starting temperature of the product."
Let's see... the forcast for Killington, VT (USA) today is for highs of 34F (1C) and lows of 5F (-15C). (There's a popular ski area there for those of you who aren't familiar.)Wind chill doesn't apply, so figure ambient (plus a gimme factor for residual temp + insulation) plus 75F, and you're looking at 109F (43C) during the day, and 80F (27C) at night while you're trapped in a tree and the ski patrol's searching for your freezing ass. Not exactly what I'd call 'toasty warm.'
So, if you're skiing and packing your coffee | soup | chili in a backpack... don't expect the warmest meal. As for less extreme situations... I can nuke my hot chocolate a lot faster in the microwave at work, and I'm not so damn lazy I can't get up from my desk to do it.
I think this'll sell for a short period just due to the "Hey, cool!" factor, and then die due to expense.
You might remember this one: Congressman Dingell (who has a metal hip) gets strip-searched. Looks like it happened on January 5, 2002.
At least they didn't try to carve it out. On the other hand, he probably got preferential treatment 'cause he's a high-and-mighty elected official. (Yeah, right.)
<joke> I guess the people manning that particular security station voted for his opponent... </joke>
Let me get this right... you buy a used computer, and then go straight to the manufacturer for replacement parts??? (Surely you know 'accessories' are one of their higher-margin profit centers!)
Still... if you're in the Seattle, WA area, stop in the Boeing Surplus Retail Store. I was there last week, and they had a bucket of what looked like 80-pin 2.1GB Compaq hot-plug drives. They were just sitting there next to a cash register like candy would be at a supermarket. I don't remember the price, but I want to say they wanted ~$5 each for 'em.
They were also selling an Indigo ($50), lots of PCs (mostly old Dell OptiPlex models, $20 - $300, Pentium MMXs to P-IIs), and even a Barco data-grade projector ($2500). Fun place to go and blow half a day poking around.
There are various types of officers in the military... Flag officers, Field Grade officers, etc. The Navy has (in addition to numerous other classifications) LDOs, or Limited Duty Officers.
So, courtesy of the United States Navy's Naval Nuclear Power Training Command (NNPTC), I offer you the...
- Direct Input Limited Duty Officer, or DILDO
I have to assume that they didn't acronym-ize it right off when they chose the name, they aren't that dense. It went into actual use, and there were some affected officers who were genuinely offended by the acronym. It caused the whole title to be changed very quickly.