That's a good point. I have been using the encryption for both access control and privacy.
I will take your advice and use the access control to firm up my security so it is even better.
Thanks for your thoughtful response.
Doug
If you don't use WEP, you next door neighbor will use your connection for peer file sharing and you internet feed will be swamped and you won't know why. WEP is important to the success and security of wireless users. Unsecured wireless is a bane unless that is what you want, like in the case of a cafe. When I had an open wi-fi zone around my house, people used to drive up and read their email. It was almost funny. Then a neigbor loaded kazaa and my dsl line was swamped for almost a year. In the end, I secured the zone and by that time, dsl was available to my neighbors an they didn't need to share mine.
I am very curious about this. I know TiVo is small (relatively) and Echo$tar is large (relatively).
Micro$oft must be readying their lawyers to defend the Media Center Edition.
They (MS) have been talking about the digital convergence for years. Microsoft doesn't bend over for anybody, not even the EU (European Union). They will keep it in court for twenty years if necessary to prevent any actual control of their actions and product offerings. TiVo better have a lot of money, a lot of lawyers, and the gumption to fight on forever if the try to take on Microsoft. Maybe Microsoft is waiting to see what happens. If TiVo and Direc are in it together, maybe EchoStar and Microsoft should be in it together, noo I take that back, that's way to scary.
This is all about convenience. I have a nice Phillips DVD recorder, and I am an analog DVR. It won't be as convenient, but I can read ahead in the guide, find the shows I want, and run the recorder to save my shows. I did it that way for *many* years. Now days, I have more time than money. Maybe I need to re-evaluate how important watching TV is, and how important recording program material is. My desire to OC hoard a large media collection has subsided. I didn't want to pay for HBO any more. That's going to make it hard to record Bill Maher. But that's a seperate problem that's not DVR based.
I am mad at EchoStar for their business practices regarding upgrading customer owned equipment with lease only equipment. That stinks to high heaven. I don't like paying the "HD Enabling fee" that you must pay to EchoStar if you own an HD capable receiver and you aren't contracting to receive HD programming in your package. That stinks too. I am finding it hard to feel elite as a Dish Network user when so much is stinking up the place. Maybe I needed this push to look elsewhere for entertainment.
That's a good point. So they use nuclear powered helmets using depleated uranium to overcome the power problems and they transmit microwaves using the soldiers head as the antenna, and...;-)
A while back, a law was passed that said that communication companies had to provide facilities to allow the government to tap communications of any kind. The penalty for not complying was $200,000.00/Day. I can understand why communications companies would cooperate with the government given the stakes. Communications companies complained because certain kinds of communication networks have to be tapped intrusively, such as fiber optic networks. There is no electromagnetic leakage that can be used for a passive tap. I haven't heard much from the companies lately.
dwg
When I was young, I hung out with an odd chap that was doing experiments in artificial intellegence. He was doing pattern recognition using an array of gold plated iron dendrites that he grew in solution of high pressure nitric acid. It seemed to be able to recognize geometric shaped at various angles. It is interesting that Dr Stewarts research used Nitric acid and the root article metion nitric oxide.
They will probably use other frequencies. And I wonder how long it will take someone to build a device that blankets all the frequencies killing their network in an instant.
Well, when I was a youth I worked on the ARPA Network, a DARPA funded experiment in how networks recover from individual route failures. Well the technology grew up into the Internet. The US government wasn't pleased when they couldn't bomb away Saddam's communications network. It came out later that he used internet technology and that's why his network recovered so well.
Now DARPA would like to do the same thing with inexpensive wireless devices. The technology is coming anyway, the genie is almost out of the bottle for good. Wirless networking is a disruptive technology that is inexpensive and flexible, I like it.
I had a dream the other night about being a wireless guru and working with the south american rebels in the forest on their wireless network. Very exciting and dangerous. It would make a good movie.
I find your posting rather smug. You own a Tivo. Good for you.
Dish network has a nice product line. Their screen formatting is easier on the eyes then Direc.
I know, I have installed both and starband professionally. They pioneered the multi-sat dish before Direc. They had more channel capacity, and they had very clever firmware that powered the multisat receiver and provided PVR/DVR functionality at the same time.
They paid good money to develop their receivers and the quality of the picture has been consistantly good. Very few disruptions of service considering the high technology involved. Real High, 22,000 miles out.
The trouble with TiVo is unfortunate, and I am not defending them. But there should be a way out of this other than punishing the consumers.
That's what we need in our landfills. Flourine. It goes will with the other hazardous chemicals found in modern electronic devices. Maybe in the future, you will have to pay to throw away an old pda like we do today with desktop machines.
I talked my father out of his Direct TV and calmly took down their dish and put in my Dish equipment. I hate to look bad in my father's eyes. Sometimes I can't win. My father just learned how to use the DVR controls on the remote. Maybe I should just enjoy my DSL connection and watch the news on my computer. I think I can recieve broadcast channels for free. Premium service seems problematic now.
Well to start with, turn off the option that allows automatic updating of the software without your permission. Then hope that the don't do the usual and move around some channels to different transducers which is their way of making you accept the software upgrade because things don't work right if you don't. If you unplug your DVR from the phone line, they might not be able to force a software update when your system calls home at 3am. They will charge you about five dollars extra a month though if your receiver doesn't call home.
All in all, Dish's karma isn't that good these days. Here is an example. I did some Linux consulting for a Dish dealer, and when he wouldn't pay my bill, he sold me several Dish receivers that I then owned. One was a 501 PVR. Beeause I was an early user of the PVR (later renamed DVR) I was grandfathered in and didn't have to pay the PVR surcharge that started a while later. After a while I took advantage of a "Promotion" and upgraded my receivers to dual receiver PVRs. When I did that they charged me a lot, and took back my old PVRs that I owned outright. Later that started charging me a lease fee for each receiver, I said, "Hey I paid hundreds of dollars for those upgrades to my owned equipment". They said, "Oh, that was for installation and handling, now you don't own them, you are leasing them, they belong to us."
The last time I called customer service 1-800-333-DISH I got their new call center in India. So when all their customers with DVRs get excitable about the loss of DVR functionality, they won't be pestering Americans.
Also Dish has been selling several models of small movie viewers that you can use with your DVR. You record on your receiver DVR, then transfer the movies to the portable device. Where does this court decision leave the owners of these devices?
I paid extra for receivers with PVR/DVR capability. I pay the DVR surcharge each month for each receiver I have activated that has a DVR. I have 180HRS of recorded programs on my DVR I still want to watch. It looks to me like instead of a deal between Tivo and Dish to make things ok, the Dish customers are going to get royally screwed in this case. We paid, took our time to collect programs to watch, and they are about to be taken away unexpectedly. How about a class action suit on behalf of the Dish customers that are about to lose out?
dwg
Microsoft has a substancial "bully" position because they can bend the standards in their web server, and their browser to assure they work together. I am a security consultant sometimes, and I became livid when Microsoft announced their http tunneling protocol to help programs get through corporate firewalls.
In a way though, Microsoft is attempting to comply with standards on the higher level.
If you read: http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/fil es/ECMA-TR/TR-055.pdf you will see that Microsoft's direction is moving towards the direction indicated in the
Technical Report TR/55
Reference Model for Frameworks of Software Engineering Environments
Now I don't know to what extent Microsoft contributed to the document, but if you read it (I recomment reading it with a bucket of good ice cream at hand) you will be struck by the extent to which Microsoft's current products contain or are moving towards the elements described in the report. The picture of the.NET Framework and the various servers and clients within it reflect the requirements of the Reference Model. I stayed up late last night reading it, OK I am a nerd, and I kept saying..Yes...Um...Yes..They do that...Interesting...
FWIW IMHO The document is thought provoking and provides some context within which to evaluate Microsoft's position and behavior.
dwg
I use it when entering those Microsoft product keys or hexadecimal WEP keys.
Trying to use fig-Forth without it is a nightmare.
Otherwise it does get in the way when using vi. Suddenly every key you hit causes a beep.
It is helpful when there is a led embedded in the key to remind you it's active,
otherwise Internet people say UPPER CASE IS SHOUTING.
I was told by an inside source that the Microsoft programmers ar a very unhappy bunch of people and unhappy programmers write unhappy code. Programmers that are happy in their work take the time to write complete and elegant code.
My HP Pocket PC comes with an encryption program that encrypts data files to protect the data in the case of a misplaced PDA. So I would say that Microsoft Mobile does come with arrangements to encrypt data.
In the TCP/IP protocol suite, each computer with an interface to the network is considered a "host". Each host can have programs running that listen on a specific "port" (consider it a po box). When a packet arrives over the network for that port, the program wakes up and gets the data. Regards, Douglas W. Goodall
I found the article somewhat long winded, but it made quite an impression on me. I am not a diver, but divers I know love the sea and value the sea life, all the varied kinds. The information in the article about the fireweed, and how fast it grows, reminded me of a science fiction novel I read in my youth called, "Its greener than you think".
I think it is important to understand this weed, and cross it with cannabis as soon as possible, only kidding.
This week is a nasty growth that should not be ignored. It is prolific, toxic, and interferes with our food chain.
Some people have said the oceans are an important part of humanities' future, but IMHO not if it is choked with this toxic stuff. The increasing occurance of huge algea blooms is an indicator we should pay attention to. I didn't notice any political bias in the article, just a lot of information about ecological changes. If we are as smart as we think we are, attention should be paid.
Douglas W. Goodall
I find it hard to believe Intel could fail in the long run. I have been using Intel processors since
the 8048. I do think they have some problems though. I bought two Dell SC1420 systems containing
Xeon 2.8GHz 800 MHz FSB processors and no one can tell me exactly what processor chip is in the machines.
The CPUID utility shows the family and stepping of the chip, but the CPU Finder web page has no record
of the stepping of my processors. Intel has so many different CPU chips called Xeon that they cannot keep
up with them. I supplied Intel with the output of the CPUID utility and asked them to identify the chip.
They could not, and responded that I should remove the heat sink and thermal tranfer material and read
the sSpec number off the chip. This would void my Warranty with Dell and is not an acceptable answer.
Intel has told me it's up to Dell whether they choose to "disclose" which chip is in their product.
Dell has not chosen to disclose this information to me and I seem to be in limbo.
I am very dissapointed in Intel's position on this and I find it non-professional to the extreme.
I have grave doubts about Intel now. Also I downloaded the evaluation of their c++ compiler and the
readme indicates that their compiler only operates if Microsoft's Visual studio is loaded underneath.
This means you have to buy Microsoft's c++ first and then Intel's second to use Intel's compiler.
After reading Intel's compiler READ.ME file, there is no way I would touch their compiler with a
ten foot pole. The limitations are staggering. After the READ.ME, I went back to cygwin and Visual
Studio for Windows based development.
Douglas W. Goodall
Systems Software Engineer
Slashdot Mirror
You have to be kidding
That's a good point. I have been using the encryption for both access control and privacy. I will take your advice and use the access control to firm up my security so it is even better. Thanks for your thoughtful response. Doug
If you don't use WEP, you next door neighbor will use your connection for peer file sharing and you internet feed will be swamped and you won't know why. WEP is important to the success and security of wireless users. Unsecured wireless is a bane unless that is what you want, like in the case of a cafe. When I had an open wi-fi zone around my house, people used to drive up and read their email. It was almost funny. Then a neigbor loaded kazaa and my dsl line was swamped for almost a year. In the end, I secured the zone and by that time, dsl was available to my neighbors an they didn't need to share mine.
I am very curious about this. I know TiVo is small (relatively) and Echo$tar is large (relatively). Micro$oft must be readying their lawyers to defend the Media Center Edition. They (MS) have been talking about the digital convergence for years. Microsoft doesn't bend over for anybody, not even the EU (European Union). They will keep it in court for twenty years if necessary to prevent any actual control of their actions and product offerings. TiVo better have a lot of money, a lot of lawyers, and the gumption to fight on forever if the try to take on Microsoft. Maybe Microsoft is waiting to see what happens. If TiVo and Direc are in it together, maybe EchoStar and Microsoft should be in it together, noo I take that back, that's way to scary. This is all about convenience. I have a nice Phillips DVD recorder, and I am an analog DVR. It won't be as convenient, but I can read ahead in the guide, find the shows I want, and run the recorder to save my shows. I did it that way for *many* years. Now days, I have more time than money. Maybe I need to re-evaluate how important watching TV is, and how important recording program material is. My desire to OC hoard a large media collection has subsided. I didn't want to pay for HBO any more. That's going to make it hard to record Bill Maher. But that's a seperate problem that's not DVR based. I am mad at EchoStar for their business practices regarding upgrading customer owned equipment with lease only equipment. That stinks to high heaven. I don't like paying the "HD Enabling fee" that you must pay to EchoStar if you own an HD capable receiver and you aren't contracting to receive HD programming in your package. That stinks too. I am finding it hard to feel elite as a Dish Network user when so much is stinking up the place. Maybe I needed this push to look elsewhere for entertainment.
The Dish receivers that use UHF also have IR. IN fact they have incoming and outgoing IR. That's how they control VHS recorders.
Nicely said, I wish I'd said that :-)
Better unhook the phone line too.. Can't have it calling home at 3am.
I have a sense of proportion. The isn't that much arsenic either, but millions of chips together might be a problem, INABCL.
That's a good point. So they use nuclear powered helmets using depleated uranium to overcome the power problems and they transmit microwaves using the soldiers head as the antenna, and ... ;-)
A while back, a law was passed that said that communication companies had to provide facilities to allow the government to tap communications of any kind. The penalty for not complying was $200,000.00/Day. I can understand why communications companies would cooperate with the government given the stakes. Communications companies complained because certain kinds of communication networks have to be tapped intrusively, such as fiber optic networks. There is no electromagnetic leakage that can be used for a passive tap. I haven't heard much from the companies lately. dwg
When I was young, I hung out with an odd chap that was doing experiments in artificial intellegence. He was doing pattern recognition using an array of gold plated iron dendrites that he grew in solution of high pressure nitric acid. It seemed to be able to recognize geometric shaped at various angles. It is interesting that Dr Stewarts research used Nitric acid and the root article metion nitric oxide.
They will probably use other frequencies. And I wonder how long it will take someone to build a device that blankets all the frequencies killing their network in an instant.
Well, when I was a youth I worked on the ARPA Network, a DARPA funded experiment in how networks recover from individual route failures. Well the technology grew up into the Internet. The US government wasn't pleased when they couldn't bomb away Saddam's communications network. It came out later that he used internet technology and that's why his network recovered so well. Now DARPA would like to do the same thing with inexpensive wireless devices. The technology is coming anyway, the genie is almost out of the bottle for good. Wirless networking is a disruptive technology that is inexpensive and flexible, I like it. I had a dream the other night about being a wireless guru and working with the south american rebels in the forest on their wireless network. Very exciting and dangerous. It would make a good movie.
I find your posting rather smug. You own a Tivo. Good for you. Dish network has a nice product line. Their screen formatting is easier on the eyes then Direc. I know, I have installed both and starband professionally. They pioneered the multi-sat dish before Direc. They had more channel capacity, and they had very clever firmware that powered the multisat receiver and provided PVR/DVR functionality at the same time. They paid good money to develop their receivers and the quality of the picture has been consistantly good. Very few disruptions of service considering the high technology involved. Real High, 22,000 miles out. The trouble with TiVo is unfortunate, and I am not defending them. But there should be a way out of this other than punishing the consumers.
That's what we need in our landfills. Flourine. It goes will with the other hazardous chemicals found in modern electronic devices. Maybe in the future, you will have to pay to throw away an old pda like we do today with desktop machines.
I talked my father out of his Direct TV and calmly took down their dish and put in my Dish equipment. I hate to look bad in my father's eyes. Sometimes I can't win. My father just learned how to use the DVR controls on the remote. Maybe I should just enjoy my DSL connection and watch the news on my computer. I think I can recieve broadcast channels for free. Premium service seems problematic now.
Well to start with, turn off the option that allows automatic updating of the software without your permission. Then hope that the don't do the usual and move around some channels to different transducers which is their way of making you accept the software upgrade because things don't work right if you don't. If you unplug your DVR from the phone line, they might not be able to force a software update when your system calls home at 3am. They will charge you about five dollars extra a month though if your receiver doesn't call home. All in all, Dish's karma isn't that good these days. Here is an example. I did some Linux consulting for a Dish dealer, and when he wouldn't pay my bill, he sold me several Dish receivers that I then owned. One was a 501 PVR. Beeause I was an early user of the PVR (later renamed DVR) I was grandfathered in and didn't have to pay the PVR surcharge that started a while later. After a while I took advantage of a "Promotion" and upgraded my receivers to dual receiver PVRs. When I did that they charged me a lot, and took back my old PVRs that I owned outright. Later that started charging me a lease fee for each receiver, I said, "Hey I paid hundreds of dollars for those upgrades to my owned equipment". They said, "Oh, that was for installation and handling, now you don't own them, you are leasing them, they belong to us." The last time I called customer service 1-800-333-DISH I got their new call center in India. So when all their customers with DVRs get excitable about the loss of DVR functionality, they won't be pestering Americans. Also Dish has been selling several models of small movie viewers that you can use with your DVR. You record on your receiver DVR, then transfer the movies to the portable device. Where does this court decision leave the owners of these devices?
I paid extra for receivers with PVR/DVR capability. I pay the DVR surcharge each month for each receiver I have activated that has a DVR. I have 180HRS of recorded programs on my DVR I still want to watch. It looks to me like instead of a deal between Tivo and Dish to make things ok, the Dish customers are going to get royally screwed in this case. We paid, took our time to collect programs to watch, and they are about to be taken away unexpectedly. How about a class action suit on behalf of the Dish customers that are about to lose out? dwg
Microsoft has a substancial "bully" position because they can bend the standards in their web server, and their browser to assure they work together. I am a security consultant sometimes, and I became livid when Microsoft announced their http tunneling protocol to help programs get through corporate firewalls. In a way though, Microsoft is attempting to comply with standards on the higher level. If you read: http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/fil es/ECMA-TR/TR-055.pdf you will see that Microsoft's direction is moving towards the direction indicated in the
Technical Report TR/55
Reference Model for Frameworks of Software Engineering Environments
Now I don't know to what extent Microsoft contributed to the document, but if you read it (I recomment reading it with a bucket of good ice cream at hand) you will be struck by the extent to which Microsoft's current products contain or are moving towards the elements described in the report. The picture of the .NET Framework and the various servers and clients within it reflect the requirements of the Reference Model. I stayed up late last night reading it, OK I am a nerd, and I kept saying ..Yes...Um...Yes..They do that...Interesting...
FWIW IMHO The document is thought provoking and provides some context within which to evaluate Microsoft's position and behavior.
dwg
I use it when entering those Microsoft product keys or hexadecimal WEP keys. Trying to use fig-Forth without it is a nightmare. Otherwise it does get in the way when using vi. Suddenly every key you hit causes a beep. It is helpful when there is a led embedded in the key to remind you it's active, otherwise Internet people say UPPER CASE IS SHOUTING.
I was told by an inside source that the Microsoft programmers ar a very unhappy bunch of people and unhappy programmers write unhappy code. Programmers that are happy in their work take the time to write complete and elegant code.
My HP Pocket PC comes with an encryption program that encrypts data files to protect the data in the case of a misplaced PDA. So I would say that Microsoft Mobile does come with arrangements to encrypt data.
In the TCP/IP protocol suite, each computer with an interface to the network is considered a "host". Each host can have programs running that listen on a specific "port" (consider it a po box). When a packet arrives over the network for that port, the program wakes up and gets the data.
Regards, Douglas W. Goodall
I found the article somewhat long winded, but it made quite an impression on me. I am not a diver, but divers I know love the sea and value the sea life, all the varied kinds. The information in the article about the fireweed, and how fast it grows, reminded me of a science fiction novel I read in my youth called, "Its greener than you think". I think it is important to understand this weed, and cross it with cannabis as soon as possible, only kidding. This week is a nasty growth that should not be ignored. It is prolific, toxic, and interferes with our food chain. Some people have said the oceans are an important part of humanities' future, but IMHO not if it is choked with this toxic stuff. The increasing occurance of huge algea blooms is an indicator we should pay attention to. I didn't notice any political bias in the article, just a lot of information about ecological changes. If we are as smart as we think we are, attention should be paid. Douglas W. Goodall
I find it hard to believe Intel could fail in the long run. I have been using Intel processors since the 8048. I do think they have some problems though. I bought two Dell SC1420 systems containing Xeon 2.8GHz 800 MHz FSB processors and no one can tell me exactly what processor chip is in the machines. The CPUID utility shows the family and stepping of the chip, but the CPU Finder web page has no record of the stepping of my processors. Intel has so many different CPU chips called Xeon that they cannot keep up with them. I supplied Intel with the output of the CPUID utility and asked them to identify the chip. They could not, and responded that I should remove the heat sink and thermal tranfer material and read the sSpec number off the chip. This would void my Warranty with Dell and is not an acceptable answer. Intel has told me it's up to Dell whether they choose to "disclose" which chip is in their product. Dell has not chosen to disclose this information to me and I seem to be in limbo. I am very dissapointed in Intel's position on this and I find it non-professional to the extreme. I have grave doubts about Intel now. Also I downloaded the evaluation of their c++ compiler and the readme indicates that their compiler only operates if Microsoft's Visual studio is loaded underneath. This means you have to buy Microsoft's c++ first and then Intel's second to use Intel's compiler. After reading Intel's compiler READ.ME file, there is no way I would touch their compiler with a ten foot pole. The limitations are staggering. After the READ.ME, I went back to cygwin and Visual Studio for Windows based development. Douglas W. Goodall Systems Software Engineer