March 2005 - Posts
The annual “running of the bulls” in the northern Spanish town of Pamplona could get some serious competition this year, in the form of a rival run by naked humans protesting cruelty to animals. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) group, which has protested against the event in the past, even announced that it was asking the town authorities to replace the traditional bull-chase with its “running of the nudes.”
The nine-day San Fermin festival, due to start on July 6, traditionally involves hundreds of runners, including many tourists, trying to outrace a herd of bulls, who chase them through the town’s narrow streets in a tradition that goes back centuries. But PETA, which last year unleashed several protesters wearing nothing but fake horns and sandals into the streets of Pamplona, said it wants to turn the ‘Running of the Nudes’ into the official event this year to protest cruelty against animals. The group is also concerned about last year’s outbreak of blue tongue disease, a virus which forced restrictions on livestock movements in southern regions of Spain.
You all probably know the Amber Alert System by now. Did you know they now have alerts delivered to cell phones?
Code Amber now provides Amber Alerts for all 50 US States plus Puerto Rico and Canada delivered to your Cell Phone, Pager and PDA.
Some carriers charge for receipt of text SMS messages. If you choose to receive all Amber Alerts you can expect to get 12 to 15 messages per month per device. If you choose to receive Amber Alerts from individual states you will only get a few messages per year per state selected.
Code Amber Amber Alerts delivered to your wireless devices are powered by the Smart-Traveler Message System. Smart-Traveler has been a Code Amber Corporate Sponsor and Strategic Partner for over two years as of March 2005.
Sign up now here: http://codeamber.org/get_wireless.html?rcol
I caught this article over on Motley Fool regarding some statements Symantec made about the MAC OS. Apparently Symantec made some comments about the MAC OS not being quite as secure as we were led to believe.
What I find humorous in the article, is it mentions one of my favorite shows, the Andy Griffith show. The comparison? How in the world did that show end up in this analysis?
“But it's also true that the Mac's mythically bulletproof security benefits from the same kind of relative obscurity that made Mayberry so safe. Yes, Andy was a fine cop, but on the other hand, with so little potential for payoff, there isn't a lot of incentive for criminal elements -- like hackers -- to try to drop by. Especially when Microsoft's Windows continues to make for such easy pickins.”
Without going in to a whole lot of details with this one, I’m sure many of us can draw correlations to other products on the market today.
I don’t know how many of you have ever hired someone to work in your house, but I forgot just what a major pain it is. I typically do all of our home improvements myself. I find it relaxing to remodel, repair, whatever needs done. Well, I’m a little short on time these days, and my wife wanted hardwood floors put in the house. She wanted hardwood everywhere we had carpet. I can’t blame her. I love the look of hardwood floors. So, we saved our pennies for the last year or so and took the plunge. We had about 1200 square feet to do and I just didn’t have the time to do it. I probably could have taken vacation, but that’s an awful lot of work and just didn’t think I was up to it.
We’ve had the flooring people in the house since Monday. What a mess. They have to move things out of the way, rip out carpet, padding, edge strips, lay hardwood down, do their thing with it, then move everything back. We have to dust, move furniture around, wipe down walls. They wanted us to move “all the little things”. I had no idea we had so many “little things” until I was asked to move them. Why in the world do we go around collecting so many things? I’ve had to move my laptop around the house every couple of hours because the dust cloud seems to follow me. I’ve been listening to hammers , electric saws, and an air compressor “recharging” since Monday. Man those things are loud. My bottle of Tylenol is empty and my patience is wearing pretty thin. I’ve had to get up early to work, and stay up late to work. It’s just real hard to concentrate with all the noise in the house. They were supposed to be done today. No such luck. They’ll be back tomorrow.
Next time I think I’ll just take vacation and do it myself.
Barney Martin, a former New York City detective who went into show business and became best known for playing Jerry Seinfeld's father Morty on the comedian's hit television series, has died. He was 82.
Martin died of cancer Monday at his Studio City home, according to his publicist, Jennifer Glassman.
Many businesses are leaving themselves vulnerable to the emerging crop of IM-borne attacks because they aren't managing employee use of instant-messaging software, a new report finds.
A report released Wednesday by SurfControl contends that a sizeable number of U.S. businesses have yet to formulate or put into practice any official guidelines for dictating how workers may use IM on their networks. A recent survey conducted by the IT security company found that 90 percent of the 7,500-plus businesses it spoke with have established policies to manage the use of e-mail, but 49 percent have no official rules in place to govern IM and peer-to-peer software usage.
Companies that fail to address the issue are increasingly susceptible to attacks, as a new crop of threats delivered via IM has appeared over the last several months.
MSNBC has posted an article on a proposed law to stop identity theft. In the article, it references two recent stories from ChoicePoint and Lexis-Nexis.
“High-profile data leaks at information warehouse companies such as ChoicePoint and Lexis-Nexis are keeping the U.S. postal service busy, with well over 1 million bad-news letters telling consumers they are now vulnerable to identity theft. People who receive the letters have one immediate question: What do I do now? Generally, the answer has been vague and unsatisfying: watch your credit report and hope for the best.”
The solution? A credit report “security freeze”. “Put simply, a freeze would lock down a consumer's credit report, preventing anyone -- including the legitimate consumer -- from instantly opening new credit cards or taking out loans. Only after a consumer provides additional evidence they are who they say they are, a process known as "thawing," can credit be granted. Thawing can take up to three days, and generally can't be done at the point of sale, such as that critical moment when consumers find themselves unexpectedly across a table from a car salesman. But freezes also prevent identity thieves from making high-speed credit purchases and opening new accounts.
My response? What’s wrong with this idea? I think it’s a great idea. But, as you can imagine, those that provide consumer credit are up in arms. Why? No more impulse buying, and they know it. There are comments related to “they’ll lose 10 percent discounts for opening new accounts”. My response? If you want my business, extend the discounts until I prove who I say I am. How difficult is that?
There’s another quote I found hysterical. “Ultimately (telling someone to use a credit freeze) is bad advice," said Stuart Pratt, CEO of the Consumer Data Industry Association, which lobbies for the credit bureaus. "It's a little like telling consumers to brick up their windows and doors to prevent burglary, but then you can't get out of house when you need to."
Brick up my windows and doors to prevent burglary? What? Because there is a plan to have to wait three days to ensure someone doesn’t steal something from me that’s very difficult to get back? I’d still be able to buy those cars, and the homes, and everything else I need. I don’t see how it relates, but I can certainly see why those who issue credit are worried. Point is, who are they worried about?
I haven’t examined Microsoft’s expenses lately, but am real curious as to how much their legal fees run a year.
“European Union regulators are examining complaints that Microsoft Corp. intentionally engineered a scaled-down version of its Windows operating system so it wouldn't work as well with rival products. An EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Microsoft rivals were alleging that the version, stripped of Microsoft's music and video player at the EU's behest, might not work as well with other software. The EU antitrust office, however, said tests were continuing.”
T-Mobile USA Inc. announced it will suspend sales of the Hewlett-Packard Co. iPAQ h6315 personal digital assistant-style phone until the two companies can develop a software upgrade "that will deliver an improved customer experience," T-Mobile said in a statement.
T-Mobile did not say what ails the device. However, Internet posts on sites such as PhoneScoop.com indicate that the device suffers from a variety of bugs, specifically affecting the telephony and Bluetooth functions. One user complained that the device froze at least twice a week during normal use.
Yahoo's free instant-messaging service is being targeted by phishers attempting to steal usernames, passwords and other personal information.
Yahoo confirmed Thursday that its service, Yahoo Messenger, was being targeted by a scam. According to the company, attackers are sending members a message containing a link to a fake Web site. The fake site looks like an official Yahoo site and asks the user to log in by entering a Yahoo ID and password.
BATMAN: NEW TIMES is a student project, undertaken by the December 2004 Graduating Class of The DAVE School (Digital Animation and Visual Effects). Written and Directed by the team of William Vaughan and Jeff Scheetz, this fast-paced animated adventure follows the exploits of Bruce Wayne as his crime fighting alter ego -- BATMAN. Bruce risks everything to deliver GOTHAM CITY from the vile JOKER. The JOKER and his henchmen do all they can to spoil GOTHAM'S New Years Eve party. Animated star HARLEY QUINN joins the fray, throwing everything she can in BATMAN'S way. Expect plenty of twists and turns as The DAVE School Students take you on a wild ride that's sure to leave you breathless.
The twist? The entire movie is made from LEGO blocks. And, it features Adam West as the voice of Batman, Mark Hammil as the Joker, Dick Van Dyke as Commissioner Gordon, and Courtney Thorne-Smith as Catwoman. If you can’t recognize the voice of Robin, its DAVE student Josh Adams.
A trailer is available.
Instant messaging will become a more prominent feature on Blackberrys under separate agreements by Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the popular wireless e-mail devices, with both America Online Inc. and Yahoo Inc. The software for AOL Instant Messenger, AOL's ICQ service and Yahoo Instant Messenger will be pre-installed on new Blackberrys in the coming months, the companies said Monday.
Canada-based Research In Motion also plans to allow owners of existing Blackberry models to download those applications to install on their devices.
All of you instant message users out there…do you use AIM and did you download on or after February 5, 2004? America Online just updated the terms of service for you, and its now user beware.
The terms of service give AIM the right to "reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote" all content distributed across the chat network by users. You waive any right to privacy. You waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the content or to be compensated for any such uses. In addition, by posting content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this content in any medium"
Looks like its time to unplug one of my chat clients. Just wondering here what AOL seems to be thinking. This may be why the “terms of service” were rolled out quietly.
Interesting tidbit posted to the Register website. Seems they don’t like the “blogger hell” at the SXSW in Austin, including Robert Scoble.
“Does Robert Scoble really work at Microsoft? One has to wonder after seeing his name appear on the SXSW speaker list. Scoble seems to scoot around the country - by Segway most likely - annoying all kinds of audiences with his "revelations" about blogging. Shouldn't someone be required to write something interesting before being asked to talk about writing interesting things?”
Catch the story here.
A software vendor that tried to drum up sales by offering to clean up nonexistent computer "spyware" has been temporarily shut down, U.S. regulators said on Friday. As if we don’t have enough already to worry about…
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=569&ncid=738&e=1&u=/nm/20050311/tc_nm/tech_spyware_dc
For you Pocket PC fanatics (like me), you are probably already familiar with Chris De Herrera’s Windows CE Website. This site is chock full of tips and tricks for anything and everything Pocket PC related. It appears
http://www.cewindows.net/ has now become
http://www.pocketpcfaq.com. If you aren’t a regular visitor to the site and your a Pocket PC user, do yourself a favor and bookmark this one.
So, what’s HP planning to do with mobility?
HP plans to:
- Create mobile devices that are suited for the task at hand, making them more secure, usable, simple, personal and compatible with the rest of computing technology;
- Provide businesses of all sizes with standards-based infrastructures and mobile solutions that enable them to increase productivity and to stay connected to critical information when and where they need it;
- Help telecom service providers evolve their voice and data networks so they can streamline the creation, delivery and management of personalized, content-rich services;
- Form industry alliances that solve customer problems and take advantage of HP's innovative products, services and infrastructure.
HP also announced an update to its HP Mobile Printing for Pocket PC software. The latest version of this simple, easy-to-use software enables wireless printing from a handheld PC to a variety of HP printers and non-HP printers. This mobile printing solution is available for download at no charge.
To strengthen its leadership in the fast-growing smart device market, HP will continue to evolve the HP iPAQ product line and build on the success of the award-winning iPAQ 6300 series smart device. The new devices will incorporate several different types of wireless technologies and be offered in a variety of designs and sizes as they roll out through the year.
The first of these new products, HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger, integrates wireless voice, high-speed EDGE data networking and versatile GPS navigation technologies to meet global business and personal communication needs(1,2,3,4). With a built-in keyboard to easily compose email, notes, text and instant messages and data delivery rates up to four times faster than dial-up, the new iPAQ will allow users to quickly stay connected to vital business information.
You can catch the full release here: http://www.hp.com/sbso/news/feature_wireless_feb0305.html
After years of putting it off, I’ve finally decided to attend the management summit. This is something I’ve tried to do since inception (Rod has pushed me every year), but never got around to it for one reason or another. But, Rod’s persistence has finally worked, and I’ve gone ahead and registered. After all these years, I’m looking forward to finally putting some faces to names. I’ve corresponded via email with some of the myITforum community (particularly as it relates to Pocket PC’s), and this is something I’m really looking forward to. If I don’t come up and introduce myself, please make a point to at least stop me and say hello (that is if you attend). I hope to see most of you in April (just a short month away now).
Well, after a long break dealing with work and personal things, I think my schedule has somehow managed to “normalize” to give me some time to blog again, whatever normalize seems to mean these days. I've been giving a lot of thought to that the past few months. What kind of hours do most people work a week? And of course, work would qualify in my mind as anything that you do to earn money or earn a living. I have hobbies and things I do in my spare time, and occasionally my hobbies earn a few extra bucks, but certainly nothing I could live off of.
I think back to the days when I was growing up. I think my dad worked a regular 40 hours a week, and an occasional Saturday when he would take us down to work. I'm sure most people did 30 years ago. It wasn't easy to “telecommute” back then, not like it does today. He worked for Folger's Coffee and we would love going to the plant and running around. I think that's where I picked up my love for coffee. Used to love the smell of fresh ground coffee, still do. Anyway, I don't ever recall him “bringing work home with him”. These days, particularly for IT folks, it's become all too easy to bring home work. As a matter of fact, its become expected. They give us laptops, cell phones, pagers, high-speed internet connectivity. And with that, and the technology tools we now have, its truly hard to stop working. All it takes is a phone call, or a page, or an email, and I find myself back in front of the computer getting work done regardless of the hour.
I don't think its important at this point how many hours a week I spend working. At this point, its too many. I'm sure most of us in IT can say the same thing. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Yes, I love what I do. But when boxes of bunk beds for your kids sit for weeks waiting to be put together, or a new XBOX game comes that your kids are dying to play with you that are still unplayed after a few months (since Christmas), or walls that haven't been painted in your kids room that wants it to look like a HALO room after months of saying you'll do it, well, its time to push away from the computer and spend some time doing other things. I don't want my kids saying dad worked all the time when they were growing up and we never got to do anything. Yes, we will do things like go to Kings Island (a local amusement park), but I'm usually grabbing my PDA and answering email while my boys ride the rides rather than actually enjoying myself at the park. Granted, I'll never completely unplug. I don't know that I can. I enjoy this too much. But, there comes a time when you really do need appropriate work/life balance or your sure to hit burnout. I've done it several times, and it seems to come more frequently now. As the saying goes, kids are only young once. I'll never get these years back, and they won't either.
Breaks are needed, and this one was long overdue. I've promised myself that I won't overdue it anymore. We'll see how I do.