When I got TiVo about 8 months ago, I was impressed at it's ability to be able to play and record at the same time as well as the ability to know exactly where to restart a stopped program and it won't record a previously recorded program.
This thing is pretty darned smart actually and I am not surprised but particularly unhappy to learn that they are apparently logging me and uploading during the daily call to retrieve program info.
I do know that I like TiVo alot but I will be registering a complaint with TiVo and the FTC... while I am on a roll here... just as well call Darl (TiVo uses Linux) and the RIAA (I replayed the Pepsi commercial without paying a fee per song) and the FCC (Mr. Powell will love this one)
Hi and color me biased but Charlie Ergen and Echostar built my business only to tear it apart. I was a C-Band dealer for years (Echostar was primary wholsaler) and had a great business only to see them introduce "Dish" that was not available to the dealers that had made them a success.
I have seen the tactics of Ergen purchasing companies and assimilating technology and in some cases reverse engineering IE:Polaroter
John J. Nance has a new fiction book called Skyhook ( ISBN 0-515-13712-X ) that I am currently reading about "a top-secret computer program designed to save planes in trouble."
Amazing that fiction gets closer to reality in increasing shorter time spans isn't it.
I got AC power not long ago but lived thru a couple years of "self generation of household power." I am in the mountains of Colorado. This is a situation where nomenclature such as generators, power inverters, DC to DC converters, solar cells, storage batteries and stuff will soon become everyday terms.
I would suggest that for electronic devices, stay as close to DC as you can, meaning use electronic devices intended for battery power. It is far easier (and safer due to transients) to use solar cells to keep battery systems charged than using inverters powered by generators to power devices.
I suggest going the laptop route and find yourself a local electronic engineer who (like myself) has been this route before.
I have had XM for about 9 months at home (I live in the mountains with no FM) When purchasing, I made my decision largely on channel choices and recommendations of friends. It took a couple a months to get the "flavor of the system" and while there are 101 channels, I only listen to a few regularly. For example XM168 has a weekly web guide that shows the live concerts they broadcast 24 X 7 mostly from the BBC. Some very good stuff there. Many channels have web presence.
I believe that the quality of XM is pretty damn good ! I no longer have the tools or ears to test dynamic range, frequency response or THD but I am never ashamed to "crank it up" on a 400 watt Marantz system with Altec Voice of the Theatre speakers !
Many years ago I remember a collision avoidance trial in a steel plant between locomotives. We were not sucessful due to interfernce from subsonic frequencies thru the high MegaHertz range. Microvave was not feasable at the time.
I have believed that collision avoidance is quite possible but some mechanism to diminish "scattering" was necessary.
Given the wavelength and directionality of this... it seems to me that there is no specific need for a spectrum allocation.
Relevant SCO info seems to be coming from Groklaw. Even technical info that seems more suited to be coming from readers of/.
Some very interesting aspects of timing of efforts by Mr. Aivazian that include the following:
"It seems everything Mr. Aivazian does works together. If SMP or vmalloc.c doesn't work, the microcode update feature might fail, so he works on SMP and vmalloc.c. If either SMP or microcode update is crashing, he needs to know why, so he works on the debugger."
First of all I am damn impressed that anyone can over-ride a processor microcode !
The debugger is equally impressive. If you can't find why it breaks, ya can't fix it.
This is very credible and just might sink SCO's claims altogether.
I am truly impressed that this gentleman in Spain performed a forensic analysis of what appears to be a true cyperpuzzle... San Francisco to Germany to Russia to Portugal and finally to Spain.
I believe that instance documentation such as this demonstrates that legislation in the US can not possibly curb the tide of spam.
Yay Vidarh ! At least someone around here has a perspective... but it seems to me that someone that solves boundary cycles for polynomial differential equations should get some respect on/.
I tend to not like differential equations let alone these ones !
The textbook at Uni was only an inch thick and was titled "Elementary Differential Equations"
Better titled "your worst nightmare"
Let us award genius when it is due... she deserves it.
TG
uh oh ... libraries ?
on
Who Is An ISP?
·
· Score: 2, Informative
is it possible that if a spam relay gets placed on a public access terminal in a public library (and many rural ones don't have expertise to handle this)...
I understand the accountability issues with this but can we deprive the public of access to information they would not otherwise be able to get.
We are at a point it seems to me of having to make hard decisions but are looking in the wrong places.
TG
Years ago on my way to an MS Physics degree, I tried my hand at many imponderables and love to see a success.
Of additional interest is this story of a Swedish mathematics student is being reported in a paper from Norway (I love Opera browser BTW) and at the bottom of the page are other headines:
Drunken moose alert in southern Norway
Beaver hit bus with tree
Free Norwegian music overload
Researchers zero in on new Viking ship
I have followed various projects related to mapping cyberspace through the years and have always found An Atlas of Cycerspaces to be fascinating.
Mapping by Lumeta is one such methodology and I even have a poster of theirs printed by Peacock Maps (server down just now) in my office.
I have noticed that these mappings take a long time to complete and being able to map in a short time frame could be beneficial in much the same way that Internet Traffic Report can be to visualize traffic patterns or disruptions.
So many times/. takes on the spam issue. Sometimes it is whitelists, sometimes blacklists, sometimes legislation, sometimes filters. The only answer is education of the public to not patronize. It seems to me that/. readers could mount a campaign (perhaps in the form of public PSAs)or possibly getting politicians (this is an election year coming up) to include in their message "we all hate spam and until we can (heehe) regulate, do not read or respond to spam e-mails."
Long shot for sure but grassroots campaigns have worked before.
The Mr. Sparkle name likely came from an MS product manager who is playing with a Sparklez from Think Geek... wind-up cubicle toy he was watching as it wobbled erratically around his desk as small sparks are produced as the wheel rotates.
He thought this is a perfect name for our next great product.
Radio is the delivery mechanism but programming falls into 5 categories:
Local with syndication
ClearChannel
College
Public
XM and Sirius satellite delivered
I don't have Sirius but do have XM at home and at work and the programming is very diverse. For example last night was a sneak preview of the entire new Moody Blues album.
People will listen to "radio" if timely and high quality music is delivered in a high quality format.
I got started in electronics at age 12 thru Ham Radio. Mentors kept me on track and I decided electronics was for me. I went through University and got a degree as an electronic engineer and never lost the spirit of discovery. This sure beats most of the half-baked ideas that the educrats are having on the burner now.
I am sure many/. folks are long time Netheads (I since 1980) and are shaking heads at the huge transformation toward commercial takeover.
It is almost a self fulfilling prophecy. Apparent "free access" to a revenue stream, whether it be a web site for commerce where customers can buy commodities or e-mail where there is a new pool of potentials (spam).
What we are seeing now is (IMHO) a lot of what I call "bubble riders" which I define as entities that watched the general public "get on the Net" and are now exploiting their position.
Network Solutions as well as SCO and RIAA and MPAA are sitting on top of this new bubble. It seems to me that the TELCOs are not in this frenzy only because all of these others are using (and paying for bandwidth)
This new bubble is a litigation frenzy as the commercial interests sword fight for position in a space that was indeed created by very principled group of individuals and groups that are working for a common good.
IPV4 is their battleground... time for us to set our sights higher.
Attending many live concerts from artists such as AC/DC, the Boston Pops, Lilith Fair and many others... it becomes immediately clear that there are acoustic differences between music types and the venue. Our desire to recreate "the experience." simply can not happen. We can however "do the best we can" by using low distortion electronics, powerful (zero crossing) amplifiers and speakers that deliver sufficient sound pressure levels and good source material.
All of these elements are getting better (the CD is better than Vinyl using a Shure V15 type 3 cart) but the fact remains that it is a panacea and a curse to be an audiophile... it can never be achieved.
I am currently using a Signetics 2650 processor (circa 1977) on a hand wired perfboard with 8K of RAM and a cassette for loading the machine language program for monitoring all the doors and windows for intrusion detection. Anyone remember the 2650 ?
Best TG
I concur. I have been plotting Spam vs : Ham for several months on 4 e-mail accounts on different ISPs. Personal and commercial accounts have both been running at around 97% spam. I am in the US but have seen NO spike in port 25 traffic. I suspect that a major backbone provider in.AU went south that has caused congestion and the resultant retries which adds to the problem.
Your comment: "This is a significant test for the entire community because if the community can't find a way to introduce new services while reaching a resolution on technical matters that might arise, then the Internet infrastructure will never improve."
You must have been at an SCO "boot camp" recently. The technical community did indeed reach a resoluton to the new "service" you called "Site Finder" which messed up the infrastructure.
having worked as a techie for a library system (500 libraries), I have seen that libraries are increasingly using the Net for 3 distinct reasons. 1)loss of funding 2)Gates grants for hardware 3)E-rate funding for connectivity. Many librarians see the Net as a way for patrons to to do research for themselves thus relieving staff pressure but they insist on authorative sources. This has created a huge problem as it is impossible to review millions of sites. Many just throw up their hands in frustration but there is a plus to this actually, they invest more of their budget to recreational readers and children's materials and those that want to "just curl up and read a book"
I have been hunted and used hunters both. Actually I had good results on both sides of the fence. My only issue with this is that they will contact you every year or so (as a huntee) which (as a hunter) destabilizes the workplace. Moving every year is just not good unless (huntee) has become more proficient and needs challenges. As the (hunter) though, I would appreciate that the (huntee) tells me so I can make a counter offer. This rarely happens. They usually zoom.
Best
Jeff
Colorado's Governor Owens is seeking a moratorium on the grounds of "taxation without representation"
I am no fan of Owens but he is on the right track here.
Best
Slashdot Mirror
When I got TiVo about 8 months ago, I was impressed at it's ability to be able to play and record at the same time as well as the ability to know exactly where to restart a stopped program and it won't record a previously recorded program.
... while I am on a roll here ... just as well call Darl (TiVo uses Linux) and the RIAA (I replayed the Pepsi commercial without paying a fee per song) and the FCC (Mr. Powell will love this one)
This thing is pretty darned smart actually and I am not surprised but particularly unhappy to learn that they are apparently logging me and uploading during the daily call to retrieve program info.
I do know that I like TiVo alot but I will be registering a complaint with TiVo and the FTC
Best
TG
Hi and color me biased but Charlie Ergen and Echostar built my business only to tear it apart. I was a C-Band dealer for years (Echostar was primary wholsaler) and had a great business only to see them introduce "Dish" that was not available to the dealers that had made them a success.
I have seen the tactics of Ergen purchasing companies and assimilating technology and in some cases reverse engineering IE:Polaroter
Go Go TiVo !!
TG
John J. Nance has a new fiction book called Skyhook ( ISBN 0-515-13712-X ) that I am currently reading about "a top-secret computer program designed to save planes in trouble."
Amazing that fiction gets closer to reality in increasing shorter time spans isn't it.
Best
TG
I got AC power not long ago but lived thru a couple years of "self generation of household power." I am in the mountains of Colorado. This is a situation where nomenclature such as generators, power inverters, DC to DC converters, solar cells, storage batteries and stuff will soon become everyday terms.
I would suggest that for electronic devices, stay as close to DC as you can, meaning use electronic devices intended for battery power. It is far easier (and safer due to transients) to use solar cells to keep battery systems charged than using inverters powered by generators to power devices.
I suggest going the laptop route and find yourself a local electronic engineer who (like myself) has been this route before.
Enjoy the new place !
TG
I have had XM for about 9 months at home (I live in the mountains with no FM) When purchasing, I made my decision largely on channel choices and recommendations of friends. It took a couple a months to get the "flavor of the system" and while there are 101 channels, I only listen to a few regularly. For example XM168 has a weekly web guide that shows the live concerts they broadcast 24 X 7 mostly from the BBC. Some very good stuff there. Many channels have web presence.
I believe that the quality of XM is pretty damn good ! I no longer have the tools or ears to test dynamic range, frequency response or THD but I am never ashamed to "crank it up" on a 400 watt Marantz system with Altec Voice of the Theatre speakers !
Best
TG
Many years ago I remember a collision avoidance trial in a steel plant between locomotives. We were not sucessful due to interfernce from subsonic frequencies thru the high MegaHertz range. Microvave was not feasable at the time.
... it seems to me that there is no specific need for a spectrum allocation.
I have believed that collision avoidance is quite possible but some mechanism to diminish "scattering" was necessary.
Given the wavelength and directionality of this
Relevant SCO info seems to be coming from Groklaw. Even technical info that seems more suited to be coming from readers of /.
Some very interesting aspects of timing of efforts by Mr. Aivazian that include the following:
"It seems everything Mr. Aivazian does works together. If SMP or vmalloc.c doesn't work, the microcode update feature might fail, so he works on SMP and vmalloc.c. If either SMP or microcode update is crashing, he needs to know why, so he works on the debugger."
First of all I am damn impressed that anyone can over-ride a processor microcode !
The debugger is equally impressive. If you can't find why it breaks, ya can't fix it.
This is very credible and just might sink SCO's claims altogether.
TG
I am truly impressed that this gentleman in Spain performed a forensic analysis of what appears to be a true cyperpuzzle ... San Francisco to Germany to Russia to Portugal and finally to Spain.
I believe that instance documentation such as this demonstrates that legislation in the US can not possibly curb the tide of spam.
Yay Vidarh ! At least someone around here has a perspective ... but it seems to me that someone that solves boundary cycles for polynomial differential equations should get some respect on /.
I tend to not like differential equations let alone these ones !
The textbook at Uni was only an inch thick and was titled "Elementary Differential Equations"
Better titled "your worst nightmare"
Let us award genius when it is due... she deserves it.
TG
is it possible that if a spam relay gets placed on a public access terminal in a public library (and many rural ones don't have expertise to handle this) ...
I understand the accountability issues with this but can we deprive the public of access to information they would not otherwise be able to get.
We are at a point it seems to me of having to make hard decisions but are looking in the wrong places.
TG
Years ago on my way to an MS Physics degree, I tried my hand at many imponderables and love to see a success.
Of additional interest is this story of a Swedish mathematics student is being reported in a paper from Norway (I love Opera browser BTW) and at the bottom of the page are other headines:
Drunken moose alert in southern Norway
Beaver hit bus with tree
Free Norwegian music overload
Researchers zero in on new Viking ship
aftenposten.no is on my favs list for sure !
TG
I have followed various projects related to mapping cyberspace through the years and have always found An Atlas of Cycerspaces to be fascinating.
Mapping by Lumeta is one such methodology and I even have a poster of theirs printed by Peacock Maps (server down just now) in my office.
I have noticed that these mappings take a long time to complete and being able to map in a short time frame could be beneficial in much the same way that Internet Traffic Report can be to visualize traffic patterns or disruptions.
Taco
So many times /. takes on the spam issue. Sometimes it is whitelists, sometimes blacklists, sometimes legislation, sometimes filters. The only answer is education of the public to not patronize. It seems to me that /. readers could mount a campaign (perhaps in the form of public PSAs)or possibly getting politicians (this is an election year coming up) to include in their message "we all hate spam and until we can (heehe) regulate, do not read or respond to spam e-mails."
Long shot for sure but grassroots campaigns have worked before.
TG
The Mr. Sparkle name likely came from an MS product manager who is playing with a Sparklez from Think Geek ... wind-up cubicle toy he was watching as it wobbled erratically around his desk as small sparks are produced as the wheel rotates.
He thought this is a perfect name for our next great product.
Let the battle begin !
BR> Tacoguy
Programming is the issue, not the medium.
Radio is the delivery mechanism but programming falls into 5 categories:
Local with syndication
ClearChannel
College
Public
XM and Sirius satellite delivered
I don't have Sirius but do have XM at home and at work and the programming is very diverse. For example last night was a sneak preview of the entire new Moody Blues album.
People will listen to "radio" if timely and high quality music is delivered in a high quality format.
TG
I got started in electronics at age 12 thru Ham Radio. Mentors kept me on track and I decided electronics was for me. I went through University and got a degree as an electronic engineer and never lost the spirit of discovery. This sure beats most of the half-baked ideas that the educrats are having on the burner now.
Best
TG
Hic !!
whaatt? No more Makers *hic* Mark ? I bet RIAA took down the song ! *hic
I am sure many /. folks are long time Netheads (I since 1980) and are shaking heads at the huge transformation toward commercial takeover.
... time for us to set our sights higher.
It is almost a self fulfilling prophecy. Apparent "free access" to a revenue stream, whether it be a web site for commerce where customers can buy commodities or e-mail where there is a new pool of potentials (spam).
What we are seeing now is (IMHO) a lot of what I call "bubble riders" which I define as entities that watched the general public "get on the Net" and are now exploiting their position.
Network Solutions as well as SCO and RIAA and MPAA are sitting on top of this new bubble. It seems to me that the TELCOs are not in this frenzy only because all of these others are using (and paying for bandwidth)
This new bubble is a litigation frenzy as the commercial interests sword fight for position in a space that was indeed created by very principled group of individuals and groups that are working for a common good.
IPV4 is their battleground
Best
Jeff
Attending many live concerts from artists such as AC/DC, the Boston Pops, Lilith Fair and many others ... it becomes immediately clear that there are acoustic differences between music types and the venue. Our desire to recreate "the experience." simply can not happen. We can however "do the best we can" by using low distortion electronics, powerful (zero crossing) amplifiers and speakers that deliver sufficient sound pressure levels and good source material.
All of these elements are getting better (the CD is better than Vinyl using a Shure V15 type 3 cart) but the fact remains that it is a panacea and a curse to be an audiophile ... it can never be achieved.
I am currently using a Signetics 2650 processor (circa 1977) on a hand wired perfboard with 8K of RAM and a cassette for loading the machine language program for monitoring all the doors and windows for intrusion detection. Anyone remember the 2650 ? Best TG
I concur. I have been plotting Spam vs : Ham for several months on 4 e-mail accounts on different ISPs. Personal and commercial accounts have both been running at around 97% spam. I am in the US but have seen NO spike in port 25 traffic. I suspect that a major backbone provider in .AU went south that has caused congestion and the resultant retries which adds to the problem.
Dear sir,
Your comment: "This is a significant test for the entire community because if the community can't find a way to introduce new services while reaching a resolution on technical matters that might arise, then the Internet infrastructure will never improve."
You must have been at an SCO "boot camp" recently. The technical community did indeed reach a resoluton to the new "service" you called "Site Finder" which messed up the infrastructure.
TG
having worked as a techie for a library system (500 libraries), I have seen that libraries are increasingly using the Net for 3 distinct reasons. 1)loss of funding 2)Gates grants for hardware 3)E-rate funding for connectivity. Many librarians see the Net as a way for patrons to to do research for themselves thus relieving staff pressure but they insist on authorative sources. This has created a huge problem as it is impossible to review millions of sites. Many just throw up their hands in frustration but there is a plus to this actually, they invest more of their budget to recreational readers and children's materials and those that want to "just curl up and read a book"
I have been hunted and used hunters both. Actually I had good results on both sides of the fence. My only issue with this is that they will contact you every year or so (as a huntee) which (as a hunter) destabilizes the workplace. Moving every year is just not good unless (huntee) has become more proficient and needs challenges. As the (hunter) though, I would appreciate that the (huntee) tells me so I can make a counter offer. This rarely happens. They usually zoom. Best Jeff
Colorado's Governor Owens is seeking a moratorium on the grounds of "taxation without representation" I am no fan of Owens but he is on the right track here. Best