can you call 911 when the power goes out? if not, keep the POTS line even without any calling plans or packages on it... for $10/month it's a nice ability to have.
lots of these answers are already given, but I think this is a good consolidation of the issues:
It sounds like you have 2 problems -
1. the cellular network... the 4800 limitter thing usually is for an analog phone. Since you're talking about being in a remote area, I wouldn't be surprised if the only signal you're able to get is analog. If that's the case, then 4800 is about the best you can hope to get out of it, and you don't need to worry about problem #2. (here is the black box I suspect you're using). You might try using multiple cellphones and aggregating the bandwidth.
HOWEVER, if you're able to get a digital signal up there (GSM or CDMA), then you should investigate some other options, which leads into #2. Being able to get a digital signal might involve using directional antennas and amplifiers too. Depending on how long your cable run is, you might even be able to put an antenna and an amplifier at the "top" of the mountain, and run coax further down the mountain and put an antenna there. Then you could have cellular coverage for the bottom of the mountain. Not sure about licensing requirements, but check with the people who sell em.
2. the connection between the top and bottom of the mountain - I'm not sure what "GSM Modem" you're talking about running over the phone line, but it sounds to me like you're using a regular modem and it's running over this motorola box. A better solution, assuming you can get a faster (maybe 14.4 with CDMA or 56K with GPRS/CDMA2k) would be to have one of the following at the top of the mountain:
a. an external cellular modem
b. the cellphone itself, with a data-cable
c. a computer/router with a cellular modem
With (a) or (b) you'll need some sort of serial port extender to issue AT commands to the phone/modem... Your run is too long for a regular serial cable, but they make extenders that will run over long length - possibly even using cable you've already run. With (c) you might be able to get away with using ethernet or wireless ethernet to connect to the computer up there.
a few weeks ago I was without internet and trying to figure out how to find the phone number for the local pizza place without calling information. Should I call a friend of mine who was probably online at the moment?
it took a minute, but deep down inside my brain, somebody whispered "phone book." "What?" I said. "Phone Book!" he shouted.
Conveniently enough, I had a phone book and it worked. What this story illustrates is that the internet has become so pervasive for these daily tasks that I didn't even initially think about the phone book - I think that maybe 50% of the people out there would never even get THAT far and would just go to the pizza place, but maybe that's an overestimate.
all the other stuff that other people said, I echo - bills (I have a checkbook but have only written maybe 5-10 checks in the past 2 years), phone book, email, product research... "How did people do this before the internet?"
this is absurd... any voip solution needs to NOT be based on a computer with a headset, and needs to be based on a standalone handset solution as the PRIMARY means, perhaps with the computer as an option...
I can't reboot or turn off my computer while talking on the phone? what if i'm calling for tech support (I know, I know).
What if there's a blackout? Better be all UPS'd out.
I can understand the whole billing probelem tho... when I went to college they farmed out the billing and plenty of students just didn't receive bills from this ultra-shady 3rd party billing company.
I've been wanting a windows program that records how long I spend with focus in any particular window... just to see how much of my time is off-topic.
For the most part, IE/acrobat is the only program that might be used for both and would need to be checked manually. Occasionally Word is used for non-work, or IM is used for work, but probably both are negligable and could be filed automatically into their respective categories.
Is this really such a large step from yahoo yellow pages? I put in my location, search for bookstore, it sorts them by distance (after you ignore the sponsors)
Is the point here that it also searches for each bookstore's website? Doesn't seem like a huge extension. What am I missing?
About 5 years ago, the words "Soma Irot" were found in many places in and around the Carnegie Mellon campus in Pittsburgh... Oakland, Shadyside, Squirel Hill. I imagine some remain, as chalk tends to amazingly do on vertical surfaces.
"Soma Irot" backwards is "Tori Amos" and apparantly the name of a band... but unknown if the band is related to the pittsburgh scrawlings.
The outlook journal feature might help with this... good way to keep track of when you receive emails/info related to certain contacts.
Create multiple journals, instead of folders, and drag emails into any relevant journals. With a little work, you can even setup public journals that multiple people in your workgroup could view and contribute too.
Unfortuntely, Journal seems to make copies of emails, not links to em - the IT guys at my job HATE it cause it wastes so much server space (so they say). But, it's very useful for keeping track of phone calls to certain contacts, etc.
EVERY NEXTEL has a button whose SOLE purpose is to turn OFF the speaker and allow you to use the PTT functionality by holding the phone to your ear. The button icon looks like a speaker. Learn it, Live it, Love it.
People either just don't know about it, or want you to hear their conversation. If you have a vibrate feature and the phone is on your belt, there are few reasons why the speaker should EVER be on.
If you don't have vibrate, you're forced to leave the speaker on if you want to receive the initial call, but it's still quite annoying when people connect to you and immediately talk. Instead, how about you just "beep-beep" them and give them a second (if they're even free) to turn off the damn speaker and then answer you.
same as with phones in movie theaters, it's not the technology that needs adjustment - it's the user.
how is it that we can so accurately (supposedly) count US bills automatically, but we have such a hard time with this.
I've never seen a soda machine accept a fake dollar bill (not that i've tried). So, you print up specialized "bills" with similar technology to current money, and have a big soda machine, with a slot for each candidate. If the machine rejects the bill, you just go ask for a new one until you're able to vote.
After you vote, you get a soda, but it will be supermarket brand.
geocaching has been facing issues for a while
on
Geocaching Crackdown?
·
· Score: 2, Informative
check out this thread (login required?) from 2 years ago where a cacher got a ticket for "treasure seeking on federal land" when a ranger discovered a hidden cache.
- 168 bit 3des, Diffie-Hellman (1024 bit modulus)
- fips 140-1
- installs on handset side, which means it can work with digital/pbx, ISDN, IP phone, etc, and would require a tap to be placed in the handset, not just in the phone base
- no password for you to find or beat out of me, so your recording of my modem noise is that much harder to figure out
Re:How hard is helicopter AI control?
on
Micro-Helicopter Fun
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
CMU has one called HELI. Supposedly, it was being considered to fly over the Somerset crash site on 9/11 to map out the area, but the authorities decided that if it crashed also, it would just complicate the crash site more. Lots of other places have similar creatures.
There's also the Aerial Robotics Competition
the most annoying mistake I see when watching people parallel park is when they come in too sharp and hit the curb with their back right wheel (assuming parking on R side) and to correct they turn the steering hard right, pull forward, and then hard left to backup again. Because you steer with your FRONT wheels, and your rear wheels can turn at different rates, a hard turn like that doesn't even move your back right wheel away from the curb, so you'll make ZERO progress. Instead, people need to learn to keep the wheel straight ahead while correcting from a curb check.
and if you really can't see behind you, some IR sensing never hurt. Worth $25 if you have a long vehicle in the city.
a while back, my friend ebold@ sent me this link and wrote:
I don't know how well this works, or if it's a well-known solution, but it seemed novel to
me. He gives his real address, and then on the next line says, "but if you're a
spammer, email me here too, so I can blacklist you." In theory, spammers will pick
up both email addresses but legitimate humans will only pick up the real one.
Cool...
but, the page no longer uses that tactic, so maybe it didn't work.
check out the motorola harmony system. It looks like it's basically a private nextel (iden, 2 way + phone) system where you can use the handsets on both the private system and the public nextel network.
also, somebody already mentioned DECT, which is another great possibility. I believe there are lots of european GSM phones that have DECT built in too.
I can't remember the name, and google isn't behaving, but a while back there was something where you dragged your mouse to the right over the letter you wanted to choose. All letters were represented, but in different sizes depending on how likely it was that it would appear. Coupling that with a joystick would be perfect.
Slashdot Mirror
can you call 911 when the power goes out? if not, keep the POTS line even without any calling plans or packages on it... for $10/month it's a nice ability to have.
It sounds like you have 2 problems -
1. the cellular network... the 4800 limitter thing usually is for an analog phone. Since you're talking about being in a remote area, I wouldn't be surprised if the only signal you're able to get is analog. If that's the case, then 4800 is about the best you can hope to get out of it, and you don't need to worry about problem #2. (here is the black box I suspect you're using). You might try using multiple cellphones and aggregating the bandwidth.
HOWEVER, if you're able to get a digital signal up there (GSM or CDMA), then you should investigate some other options, which leads into #2. Being able to get a digital signal might involve using directional antennas and amplifiers too. Depending on how long your cable run is, you might even be able to put an antenna and an amplifier at the "top" of the mountain, and run coax further down the mountain and put an antenna there. Then you could have cellular coverage for the bottom of the mountain. Not sure about licensing requirements, but check with the people who sell em.
2. the connection between the top and bottom of the mountain - I'm not sure what "GSM Modem" you're talking about running over the phone line, but it sounds to me like you're using a regular modem and it's running over this motorola box. A better solution, assuming you can get a faster (maybe 14.4 with CDMA or 56K with GPRS/CDMA2k) would be to have one of the following at the top of the mountain:
a. an external cellular modem
b. the cellphone itself, with a data-cable
c. a computer/router with a cellular modem
With (a) or (b) you'll need some sort of serial port extender to issue AT commands to the phone/modem... Your run is too long for a regular serial cable, but they make extenders that will run over long length - possibly even using cable you've already run. With (c) you might be able to get away with using ethernet or wireless ethernet to connect to the computer up there.
"needs updated" is also way of speaking common around Pittsburgh, PA.
a few weeks ago I was without internet and trying to figure out how to find the phone number for the local pizza place without calling information. Should I call a friend of mine who was probably online at the moment?
it took a minute, but deep down inside my brain, somebody whispered "phone book." "What?" I said. "Phone Book!" he shouted.
Conveniently enough, I had a phone book and it worked. What this story illustrates is that the internet has become so pervasive for these daily tasks that I didn't even initially think about the phone book - I think that maybe 50% of the people out there would never even get THAT far and would just go to the pizza place, but maybe that's an overestimate.
all the other stuff that other people said, I echo - bills (I have a checkbook but have only written maybe 5-10 checks in the past 2 years), phone book, email, product research... "How did people do this before the internet?"
this is absurd... any voip solution needs to NOT be based on a computer with a headset, and needs to be based on a standalone handset solution as the PRIMARY means, perhaps with the computer as an option...
I can't reboot or turn off my computer while talking on the phone? what if i'm calling for tech support (I know, I know).
What if there's a blackout? Better be all UPS'd out.
I can understand the whole billing probelem tho... when I went to college they farmed out the billing and plenty of students just didn't receive bills from this ultra-shady 3rd party billing company.
I've been wanting a windows program that records how long I spend with focus in any particular window... just to see how much of my time is off-topic.
For the most part, IE/acrobat is the only program that might be used for both and would need to be checked manually. Occasionally Word is used for non-work, or IM is used for work, but probably both are negligable and could be filed automatically into their respective categories.
Is the point here that it also searches for each bookstore's website? Doesn't seem like a huge extension. What am I missing?
About 5 years ago, the words "Soma Irot" were found in many places in and around the Carnegie Mellon campus in Pittsburgh... Oakland, Shadyside, Squirel Hill. I imagine some remain, as chalk tends to amazingly do on vertical surfaces.
"Soma Irot" backwards is "Tori Amos" and apparantly the name of a band... but unknown if the band is related to the pittsburgh scrawlings.
The outlook journal feature might help with this... good way to keep track of when you receive emails/info related to certain contacts.
Create multiple journals, instead of folders, and drag emails into any relevant journals. With a little work, you can even setup public journals that multiple people in your workgroup could view and contribute too.
Unfortuntely, Journal seems to make copies of emails, not links to em - the IT guys at my job HATE it cause it wastes so much server space (so they say). But, it's very useful for keeping track of phone calls to certain contacts, etc.
EVERY NEXTEL has a button whose SOLE purpose is to turn OFF the speaker and allow you to use the PTT functionality by holding the phone to your ear. The button icon looks like a speaker. Learn it, Live it, Love it.
People either just don't know about it, or want you to hear their conversation. If you have a vibrate feature and the phone is on your belt, there are few reasons why the speaker should EVER be on.
If you don't have vibrate, you're forced to leave the speaker on if you want to receive the initial call, but it's still quite annoying when people connect to you and immediately talk. Instead, how about you just "beep-beep" them and give them a second (if they're even free) to turn off the damn speaker and then answer you.
same as with phones in movie theaters, it's not the technology that needs adjustment - it's the user.
how is it that we can so accurately (supposedly) count US bills automatically, but we have such a hard time with this.
I've never seen a soda machine accept a fake dollar bill (not that i've tried). So, you print up specialized "bills" with similar technology to current money, and have a big soda machine, with a slot for each candidate. If the machine rejects the bill, you just go ask for a new one until you're able to vote.
After you vote, you get a soda, but it will be supermarket brand.
check out this thread (login required?) from 2 years ago where a cacher got a ticket for "treasure seeking on federal land" when a ranger discovered a hidden cache.
at least 3 of em
FYI, this is partly courtesy of Monzy, of Monzy.com fame. more here
- 168 bit 3des, Diffie-Hellman (1024 bit modulus)
- fips 140-1
- installs on handset side, which means it can work with digital/pbx, ISDN, IP phone, etc, and would require a tap to be placed in the handset, not just in the phone base
- no password for you to find or beat out of me, so your recording of my modem noise is that much harder to figure out
CMU has one called HELI. Supposedly, it was being considered to fly over the Somerset crash site on 9/11 to map out the area, but the authorities decided that if it crashed also, it would just complicate the crash site more. Lots of other places have similar creatures. There's also the Aerial Robotics Competition
and if you really can't see behind you, some IR sensing never hurt. Worth $25 if you have a long vehicle in the city.
ok, apparantly "plain text" doesn't actually mean plain text. let's try again:
- change <?php to just <?
- get rid of the <br>
two stupid ways:
- change
phased array antennas. They very much exist today.
Snail Mail Still Winning The Bandwidth War
I don't know how well this works, or if it's a well-known solution, but it seemed novel to me. He gives his real address, and then on the next line says, "but if you're a spammer, email me here too, so I can blacklist you." In theory, spammers will pick up both email addresses but legitimate humans will only pick up the real one. Cool...
but, the page no longer uses that tactic, so maybe it didn't work.
also, somebody already mentioned DECT, which is another great possibility. I believe there are lots of european GSM phones that have DECT built in too.
found it - DASHER.
on slashdot here and here. lotsa fun, downloadable demo.
I can't remember the name, and google isn't behaving, but a while back there was something where you dragged your mouse to the right over the letter you wanted to choose. All letters were represented, but in different sizes depending on how likely it was that it would appear. Coupling that with a joystick would be perfect.