Here comes one of me stories - this one's why I've always been wary of rf-based peripherals (this and a wireless keyboard where the batteries lasted about a day):
Back in the 1980s we had a CAD suite based on IBM PC-ATs running Daisy DNIX - a variation on XENIX.
The CAD systems came with their own furniture 'stations' and so the position of the system unit, keyboard, monitor and graphics tablet were pretty much 'fixed'.
Trouble was that the puck on the graphics tablet (used to input your co-ordinates by moving it around the tablet and clicking) had an inductive pick-up and if you so happened to be drawing lines or placing objects on the edge of the tablet closest to the (whacking big 21") monitors, the pucks would sometimes pick up the line scan signal from the monitor and you'd suddenly be the proud owner of several hundred extra nodes or objects thrown randomly around your wonderful circult diagram!
Y'know this stuff sounds good and it's practically free and just lying there waiting to be used - mind you, I bet some enterprising company will put it in bottles with fancy labels, hype it up to make it 'special' and gullible fools will ACTUALLY PAY STUPID PRICES FOR IT.
I was once on a [Can't tell you] site debugging their Token Ring network (It turned out that EMPs from their various 'experiments' were getting into the optical fibre via the transceivers on the NICs, but that's another story!).
While I was there I was invited to see a test firing of their laser "one of the biggest in Europe" - they were firing it at various polymers to see what flew off (OK, that's a bit simplified).
I must have walked about 1 mile across this site and was taken into a 'clean room' where I donned a cap, white coat and had plastic bags put over my shoes. I was given a brief presentation from the gantry overlooking the test area (VERY 'James Bond', complete with red flashing lights and a countdown clock) - it must have been 50ft from end to end. Next, a quick look at the capacitor room (wow!).
"Charging in 1 minute" came the voice over the loud speaker, followed by a 10 second countdown and lots of high pitched whistling as the capacitors were charged.
By now I was back on the gantry overlooking the experiment. More lights, a siren and then..."FIRING in 10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1", followed by.......a large 'CLUNK' as some hefty relays shunted the charge from the capacitors into the laser.
"Well, that's it for now", said my host, "It'll be about 6 hours before the optics cool down enough so we can do it again."
I thanked my host for the wonderful tour as we headed back to the guard house and car park, but was really thinking it was all a bit of a trek and effort for a 'clunk'!
I write websites so I can present ideas to people. I don't want them to see my site the way they want to see it. I want them to see it the way it was meant to be seen.
"So ladies and gentlemen - here we have it; a high-tech battery that lasts many times longer than those made with current technology, a clean and efficient power source for the 21st century - ideal for all sorts of gadgets and items essential for the executive on the move! Just one small thing - how do we convince power laptop users to accept having a radioactive source approximately 2" away from their testicles? Anyone?"
In this day and age, if you open an email from someone you don't know and see links and you click them you are not unwittingly doing anything. You are just a nitwit.
Yep - but if you're 'on the road' or even on a pay per minute dial-up connection then receiving this crap costs you money even if you just initially download the headers.
So let's review the procedure for BT upgrading my HQ's business service to 2MBit:
#1: Request upgrade
#2: Upgrade confirmed and upgrade date provided
#3: BB phone line goes dead - call BT to find out why
#4: BT cuts off *ALL* phone lines to building
#5: 5 hours later BT restores phone services
#6: 2 days later broadband speed jumps to 2Mbit
#7: 1 day later broadband goes dead - phone BT to find out why - discover BT were supposed to 'cease' 512K service and then instantly 'provide' 2Mbit but THEY DID THIS THE WRONG WAY ROUND - ie: PROVIDED 2Mbit and then CEASED it!!!
#8: Receive extreme apologies from BT but they cannot (won't?) do anything for another 10 days as they have to put another order on the system.
#9: 10 days later 2Mbit broadband up and running.
Now, how about when they upgraded one of my offices to 1Mbit...
#1: Request upgrade
#2: Upgrade confirmed and upgrade date provided
#3: On the appointed day, broadband speed jumps to 1Mbit
#4: All overnight database replication stops - phone BT to find out why - 'fixed' IP address has changed but they never told us this would happen
#5: Change IP addresses on 5 remote servers so they can 'see' the site.
#6: 2 months later, all replication stops again. Check IP address - changed AGAIN - call BT
#7 BT have no record of the account number I quote and give me the 'correct' one. BT state that they also changed our account from having a fixed IP address to a non-fixed one without telling us (or us requesting it). BT put an order through to setup a fixed IP address.
#8 10 days later NEW (fixed) IP address goes live - change all other servers referencing the site again.
Now, how about when BT cock up phone line billing:
#1 Move premises and have BT change all numbers over to new site/address.
#2 About 2 months later, broadband line goes dead.
#3 Check with BT - line has been disconnected for non-payment of bill. Discover that when accounts details were updated to our new site address, the BB line somehow became 'unbundled' from our 'all-in-one' billing arrangement and so the direct debit being taken wasn't covering this line. BT had been sending reminders to OLD address and for some reason they were not being forwarded to us.
#4 Sort out billing with BT - but broadband has been terminated because BT told the supplier (Zen) that the line was now disconnected.
#5 Zen say we will need to re-apply for a BB service as the old contract was expired on BTs authority and so no longer exists. This means we will have to pay a new install charge as BT will charge Zen to re-enable the line again.
#6 Tell BT to sort it out as it was their cock-up. BT say they cannot as they have no authority to order a BB line on someone's behalf (even though they can arrange to have them terminated!!).
#7 Reluctantly agree to order a new BB service in order to not waste any more time.
#8 Zen's line check fails because BT records still show a BB service on the line and you can't have 'two' BB services on the same line!!
#9 Speak to BT..wait...wait...wait...wait
#10 Cancel order with Zen and put through new order against another phone line.
#11 5 days later, broadband service goes live.
#12 About 60 days later BT confirms records updated and original line should now be OK for broadband!!
In a nutshell: when BT cock up they have no mechanism to escalate the issue for a speedy response - they just put you through the regular order process as if you were a new customer rather than a severly pi**ed off current customer spending a fortune with them every month - they really give the impression of not caring jack sh*t about the problems they cause.
Need you wonder why all new ADSL installs since I took over have been done through Zen - I'd move our other 20-off sites to Zen too but I'm just sooo afraid of what BT might do to screw it up!!!
Why not tie the system into a selection of security cameras in Florida shopping malls and make it law there that anyone wishing to partake in mass emailing has to wear a bright coloured jacket with a target printed on the back in public - then we could solve two problems in one go!?
Maybe I get your spam, maybe I don't - maybe you die, maybe you don't; it seems like a fair trade-off.
Amongst other things I provide consultancy for help desks and call centres (migration, training, expansion, logistics, workflow etc.)
On that kind of environment I strongly recommend AGAINST using sticky notes because they are apt to get lost, fall down the back of desks, under keyboards etc. and they do not stick well to fabric partitions, plus, when you see a desk/wall/monitor plastered with dozens of 'please call' or 'urgent' notes not only does it look extremely messy but it also devalues the urgency of the notes and looks unprofessional - it's a bit like if you received all incoming emails flagged urgent.
If a call centre or help desk cannot send electronic notes, I recommend a clipboard for each employee hooked by their desk in a specific location upon which A5-sized pre-printed notes can be left - because each note is arranged in the same way with regards to from/date/subject/priority etc, it is easier than wading through tons of stickies all written in a diferent way and placed on your keyboard, monitor, chair back, or whereever the person chose to leave it. Some advocate sticking notes on the monitor, but if someone comes back to their desk and needs to check something out on their computer they just peel off the pile and put it 'somewhere' to deal with later and they can get lost, forgotten or ignored.
This may all sound a bit over the top bit it just takes one note from a very important customer to go astray and you can appreciate the need for organisation and consistency - I'm not a control freak but sticky notes are not always the best way to do things in some environments.
If you run an Intranet like I do then RSS makes it simple to provide the users with a summary of news headlines or relevant information on a single page without the users having to visit each individual site - our Intranet's news page pools headlines on specific topics from 5 sites into one summary - very handy and it saves you having to visit multiple sites.
Incidentally, the BBC has had RSS feeds for at least a year so why this is new news I do not know.
If the data's that important we could always create a multi-part ZIP or RAR file and send it via email - those blighters can sometimes take days to arrive with no apparent ill effect!
Slashdot Mirror
A quick scan of the entire thread reveals no-one seems to have mentioned Horta yet - so there, I've done it!
That 'CD burner' had better be a DVD rewriter or I'm not interested!
I hope it goes back and smoothes over those goddam awful, unsightly ruts - someone could trip over them and do themselves an injury!
Amen to that - we have some wicked spreadsheets in Office (full of macros) that scare the pants off anything else - Open office, Ability etc.
Here comes one of me stories - this one's why I've always been wary of rf-based peripherals (this and a wireless keyboard where the batteries lasted about a day):
Back in the 1980s we had a CAD suite based on IBM PC-ATs running Daisy DNIX - a variation on XENIX.
The CAD systems came with their own furniture 'stations' and so the position of the system unit, keyboard, monitor and graphics tablet were pretty much 'fixed'.
Trouble was that the puck on the graphics tablet (used to input your co-ordinates by moving it around the tablet and clicking) had an inductive pick-up and if you so happened to be drawing lines or placing objects on the edge of the tablet closest to the (whacking big 21") monitors, the pucks would sometimes pick up the line scan signal from the monitor and you'd suddenly be the proud owner of several hundred extra nodes or objects thrown randomly around your wonderful circult diagram!
Y'know this stuff sounds good and it's practically free and just lying there waiting to be used - mind you, I bet some enterprising company will put it in bottles with fancy labels, hype it up to make it 'special' and gullible fools will ACTUALLY PAY STUPID PRICES FOR IT.
I was once on a [Can't tell you] site debugging their Token Ring network (It turned out that EMPs from their various 'experiments' were getting into the optical fibre via the transceivers on the NICs, but that's another story!).
While I was there I was invited to see a test firing of their laser "one of the biggest in Europe" - they were firing it at various polymers to see what flew off (OK, that's a bit simplified).
I must have walked about 1 mile across this site and was taken into a 'clean room' where I donned a cap, white coat and had plastic bags put over my shoes. I was given a brief presentation from the gantry overlooking the test area (VERY 'James Bond', complete with red flashing lights and a countdown clock) - it must have been 50ft from end to end. Next, a quick look at the capacitor room (wow!).
"Charging in 1 minute" came the voice over the loud speaker, followed by a 10 second countdown and lots of high pitched whistling as the capacitors were charged.
By now I was back on the gantry overlooking the experiment. More lights, a siren and then..."FIRING in 10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1", followed by.......a large 'CLUNK' as some hefty relays shunted the charge from the capacitors into the laser.
"Well, that's it for now", said my host, "It'll be about 6 hours before the optics cool down enough so we can do it again."
I thanked my host for the wonderful tour as we headed back to the guard house and car park, but was really thinking it was all a bit of a trek and effort for a 'clunk'!
I write websites so I can present ideas to people. I don't want them to see my site the way they want to see it. I want them to see it the way it was meant to be seen.
Well that about wraps it up for Lynx then!
"So ladies and gentlemen - here we have it; a high-tech battery that lasts many times longer than those made with current technology, a clean and efficient power source for the 21st century - ideal for all sorts of gadgets and items essential for the executive on the move! Just one small thing - how do we convince power laptop users to accept having a radioactive source approximately 2" away from their testicles? Anyone?"
Good call - OpenVPN is a good package.
Yeah, I intercepted this story elsewhere about 2 days ago.
OLD news for nerds?
Is it true that Bill was also heard to say "Nobody should need to see more than 640 spam messages a day."?
In this day and age, if you open an email from someone you don't know and see links and you click them you are not unwittingly doing anything. You are just a nitwit.
Yep - but if you're 'on the road' or even on a pay per minute dial-up connection then receiving this crap costs you money even if you just initially download the headers.
So let's review the procedure for BT upgrading my HQ's business service to 2MBit:
#1: Request upgrade
#2: Upgrade confirmed and upgrade date provided
#3: BB phone line goes dead - call BT to find out why
#4: BT cuts off *ALL* phone lines to building
#5: 5 hours later BT restores phone services
#6: 2 days later broadband speed jumps to 2Mbit
#7: 1 day later broadband goes dead - phone BT to find out why - discover BT were supposed to 'cease' 512K service and then instantly 'provide' 2Mbit but THEY DID THIS THE WRONG WAY ROUND - ie: PROVIDED 2Mbit and then CEASED it!!!
#8: Receive extreme apologies from BT but they cannot (won't?) do anything for another 10 days as they have to put another order on the system.
#9: 10 days later 2Mbit broadband up and running.
Now, how about when they upgraded one of my offices to 1Mbit...
#1: Request upgrade
#2: Upgrade confirmed and upgrade date provided
#3: On the appointed day, broadband speed jumps to 1Mbit
#4: All overnight database replication stops - phone BT to find out why - 'fixed' IP address has changed but they never told us this would happen
#5: Change IP addresses on 5 remote servers so they can 'see' the site.
#6: 2 months later, all replication stops again. Check IP address - changed AGAIN - call BT
#7 BT have no record of the account number I quote and give me the 'correct' one. BT state that they also changed our account from having a fixed IP address to a non-fixed one without telling us (or us requesting it). BT put an order through to setup a fixed IP address.
#8 10 days later NEW (fixed) IP address goes live - change all other servers referencing the site again.
Now, how about when BT cock up phone line billing:
#1 Move premises and have BT change all numbers over to new site/address.
#2 About 2 months later, broadband line goes dead.
#3 Check with BT - line has been disconnected for non-payment of bill. Discover that when accounts details were updated to our new site address, the BB line somehow became 'unbundled' from our 'all-in-one' billing arrangement and so the direct debit being taken wasn't covering this line. BT had been sending reminders to OLD address and for some reason they were not being forwarded to us.
#4 Sort out billing with BT - but broadband has been terminated because BT told the supplier (Zen) that the line was now disconnected.
#5 Zen say we will need to re-apply for a BB service as the old contract was expired on BTs authority and so no longer exists. This means we will have to pay a new install charge as BT will charge Zen to re-enable the line again.
#6 Tell BT to sort it out as it was their cock-up. BT say they cannot as they have no authority to order a BB line on someone's behalf (even though they can arrange to have them terminated!!).
#7 Reluctantly agree to order a new BB service in order to not waste any more time.
#8 Zen's line check fails because BT records still show a BB service on the line and you can't have 'two' BB services on the same line!!
#9 Speak to BT..wait...wait...wait...wait
#10 Cancel order with Zen and put through new order against another phone line.
#11 5 days later, broadband service goes live.
#12 About 60 days later BT confirms records updated and original line should now be OK for broadband!!
In a nutshell: when BT cock up they have no mechanism to escalate the issue for a speedy response - they just put you through the regular order process as if you were a new customer rather than a severly pi**ed off current customer spending a fortune with them every month - they really give the impression of not caring jack sh*t about the problems they cause.
Need you wonder why all new ADSL installs since I took over have been done through Zen - I'd move our other 20-off sites to Zen too but I'm just sooo afraid of what BT might do to screw it up!!!
Why not tie the system into a selection of security cameras in Florida shopping malls and make it law there that anyone wishing to partake in mass emailing has to wear a bright coloured jacket with a target printed on the back in public - then we could solve two problems in one go!?
Maybe I get your spam, maybe I don't - maybe you die, maybe you don't; it seems like a fair trade-off.
...hmm talking to inanimate objects eh!?
Amongst other things I provide consultancy for help desks and call centres (migration, training, expansion, logistics, workflow etc.)
On that kind of environment I strongly recommend AGAINST using sticky notes because they are apt to get lost, fall down the back of desks, under keyboards etc. and they do not stick well to fabric partitions, plus, when you see a desk/wall/monitor plastered with dozens of 'please call' or 'urgent' notes not only does it look extremely messy but it also devalues the urgency of the notes and looks unprofessional - it's a bit like if you received all incoming emails flagged urgent.
If a call centre or help desk cannot send electronic notes, I recommend a clipboard for each employee hooked by their desk in a specific location upon which A5-sized pre-printed notes can be left - because each note is arranged in the same way with regards to from/date/subject/priority etc, it is easier than wading through tons of stickies all written in a diferent way and placed on your keyboard, monitor, chair back, or whereever the person chose to leave it. Some advocate sticking notes on the monitor, but if someone comes back to their desk and needs to check something out on their computer they just peel off the pile and put it 'somewhere' to deal with later and they can get lost, forgotten or ignored.
This may all sound a bit over the top bit it just takes one note from a very important customer to go astray and you can appreciate the need for organisation and consistency - I'm not a control freak but sticky notes are not always the best way to do things in some environments.
Fordriva?
If you run an Intranet like I do then RSS makes it simple to provide the users with a summary of news headlines or relevant information on a single page without the users having to visit each individual site - our Intranet's news page pools headlines on specific topics from 5 sites into one summary - very handy and it saves you having to visit multiple sites.
Incidentally, the BBC has had RSS feeds for at least a year so why this is new news I do not know.
At last we'll be able to make some cables to take the current to charge those 'instant charge' batteries mentioned a while back!?
M$ = "Jack of all trades..."?
the guy who mops the control center floor at NASA doesn't get to claim to be an astronaut or rocket scientist
Nope, but he can legitimately claim that he helps put man into space.
I had a Commodore 64 in - oh - 1982.
...lighting a fart?
Unless someone claims prior (f)art??!!
Sorry.
If the data's that important we could always create a multi-part ZIP or RAR file and send it via email - those blighters can sometimes take days to arrive with no apparent ill effect!