Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Mad Enough to Kill a PDA

If I had one of the programmers or engineers responsible for the Palm Pilot, Desktop or OS before me right now, I'd probably throttle the life out of them.

How this came to be

Many of you know that, as a result of owning two Palm Pilots of different Generations (The IIIxe and the T2), I had come to hate the brand with a broiling passion I normally reserve for select politicians.

My T2 died a hard death. Even the screen stopped working in the end.

I was so disgusted with Palm that I decided to ditch digital PDAs and go back to Paper.

The plan was simple. Print up my contacts and notes so I could put them in the old Day Planner I used for close to six years, most of it during college. Make notes in in and periodically update the contacts on the computer and print up a fresh copy.

Simple?

Well, if my contacts weren't in the Palm software yes. Even exporting to CSV in the Palm software does things like dump all the "primary" contacts into one column, with no way of differentiating between Call, Home, Work and Fax numbers. For some contacts, their e-mail address was dumped into this column.

I did a good deal of research, and found that the easiest way to get your contacts out of the Palm Software and into something else was to sync the Palm Pilot to Outlook instead of the Palm Desktop. This works nicely as OUtlook has a template that appears to be perfect for my day planner!

The problem of course being that the T2 is dead as a doornail and can no longer sync.

The Event

So Whuffle generously offered to let me use her Handspring for the data transfer. I would sync her handspring to my desktop, wipe the handspring, and then use it to get my data out of the Palm Desktop and into Outlook. I would then put her data back in the handspring.

Whuffle went to work, and as I had an hour and a half until I had to leave, I set about hooking her Handspring to my computer.

The first thing I noticed was the battery was low on the Handpsirng, so I changed the batteries and checked to make sure the contacts were still there.

They were. Everything was fine after the battery change.

I then created a new username in my Palm Desktop install and started the sync process to get Whuffle's contacts onto my Palm Desktop.

I then went to get dressed.

When I got back, I noticed the Handspring had a message saying it needed to be reset. I pressed the little "Reset" button on the screen, knowing that the Palm Pilot would do nothing but give me that screen until I reset it.

I then found myself staring in horror at the screen. The Palm Logo had come up, but was distorted, as if it had been drawn on an etch-a-sketch that was subsequently shaken.

I grabbed a paperclip and hit the reset button. The Palm Pilot went through it's "New Palm" wizard. When I went to the contacts, they were empty except for one entry for Handspring tech support.

Panic set in.

I launched the Palm desktop on my PC and took a look at the username I'd created for Whuffle.

No contacts. No calendar events. Nothing.

I checked the sync log.

The Palm software had, in it's typical wisdom, installed an OS update for Palm OS 3.1 on the handspring, INSTEAD of syncing the damn contacts.

The end result of course being that all the data had been wiped form the Handspring.

Aftermath

I can not describe the rage I felt at that point. I can't remember being that angry without my mother being involved. My hands were shaking, and had my T2 not been a dismantled heap on my desk I would have smashed it into oblivion then and there.

For a frame of reference, imagine Bill Cosby's routine about his wife finding him giving the kids Chocolate Cake fro breakfast. Then imagine that her reaction would be considered "mildly annoyed" compared to my mental state.

All I did was try to hotsync, and it lost all it's data.

I called Palm Tech Support.

They were closed. They don't open until 9:00 am EST.

I called their sales line, which promptly hung up.

I called their sales line again. This time the rep who had hung up on me stayed on the line, explaining that he was only in sales, and that there were no technicians he could go grab from another office. He reiterated that I would have to call their tech support line. I advised he find a job with a company that makes products that DON'T mangle customer data on a regular basis.

I'm a bit calmed down now.

Intellectually, I know there's nothing I can do to recover Whuffle's Handspring data. I have a year plus old copy of her contacts in one of my Palm Pilot categories, but that had GOT to be seriously out of date now.

I haven't been able to reach her on the phone yet. She's still on the bus getting to work, and her cell phone is off.

My goal is to get all my data out of the Palm Desktop. Even with the Palm Hardware dead, the damn desktop insists on continuing to screw me over.

I will never, as long as I live, use another piece of Palm hardware or software. IF I ever had an employer who handed me a Palm Pilot and told me I HAD to use it, I'd be seriously tempted to find a new job instead of continuing to use an unstable, unreliable piece of garbage like the Palm Pilot.

Friday, October 21, 2005

My Palm Tungsten 2 is dead

So, that monstrous little beast from Palm has finally died. After a few weeks of keeping a charge for all of four hours, the screen stopped working. If I smack it I can get half the screen to display, but generally it just comes up white with a few pale vertical streaks of color.

This is my second Palm Pilot, and given the way my IIIxe died, I'm concluding that the entire product line is flawed. My horrific experiences with Palm's tech support further cemented my distaste for the company. A flaky piece of hardware I can forgive, but keeping me running in tech support circles until my warranty expires I can't.

So now that the sucker is dead and gone, I find myself contemplating a replacement.

Naturally, anything Palm related is out of the question.

Whuffle offered to let me have her old Handspring so she could get a newer entry level Palm Pilot. While the idea appeals, it would mean she would be stuck not with a Handspring that she's been using reliably for years, but with one of the new Palms, which are running what appears to be a buggy, cobbled together OS in desperate need of replacement.

So I started thinking, what do I REALLY need a PDA for?

Games: Nope. That was true at one point, but I don't really play that many computer games anymore, and the ones I do like tend to not be available for the Palm Pilot. Aside from Solar Trader, The only Palm game that really stuck with me was Bejeweled, but I have that on my cell phone. Nethack runs on Pocket PC though...

Addresses: Yes, but my Palm Pilots have frozen and crashed during hot sync so often, that it's been years since I actually updated records on the PDA. I generally took notes on a slip of paper, made the changes on my computer and began the "Will it sync or crash" dance. I could accomplish the same thing by printing my addresses, putting them in a day planner, and periodically updating the printout. Hell, I can put my addresses on my iPod in a read only mode.

Memos / Notes: Only in theory. The Palm Desktop has become a convenient place to toss recipes and notes on my trips, but there are so many other options for that it's silly. If I'm on a trip, a piece of paper with my itinerary is more convenient than a PDA anyway.

Writing on the Road: While this is something I always thought I would do, the fragile nature of most Palm keyboards, combined with the 4k limit on Memos and the lack of a decent and reliable Palm text editor or word processor renders the idea moot. I've gotten more actual writing done in the last year using a travel notebook and a cheap pen than I did on both Palm Pilots combined.

Ebooks: This was the major use my Palm Pilots ever got. After getting an iPod and moving my audio books to it, I still found Plucker and Adobe Reader for Palm to be the major applications that I actually used on the Palm Pilot. A cheap e-book reader or something that integrated Plucker with the GameBoy ebook reader may very well be all I need for that. It would also be cheaper and more durable than a PDA.

Encrypting your address book, in case it's stolen: Cute in theory, the lack of a decent way to keep the addresses updated while still being able to sync them makes it, once again, impractical.

An Alternative Comes to Mind.

Then I remembered a very nice leather day planner I got as a high school graduation gift and used throughout college. All I really need is a way to easily print my address book so I can just put it in the binder. I'll make any changes I want to by hand, and then copy them to the CSV file containing the addresses later. Every few weeks / months I'll print a new copy if necessary.

Then again, I might just get generic memo pages for the planner and a package of mailing labels. Microsoft Word already has templates for printing on mailing labels. Of course that would be far more time consuming than I would like.

Assuming I resolve the printing issue, my old analog planner takes care of my addresses and a few pieces of notebook paper. iPod and Cell Phone take care of audio books and random games respectively, and the Game Boy takes care of "Driving cross country or flying for several hours" gaming.

So one question remains. What would you, my dear friends, recommend for an inexpensive, portable, non-Palm platform for reading ebooks, preferably with Plucker support?

Thursday, October 20, 2005

More on John Loftus

TO: bkennedy@jihadunspun.net
Subject: Subject: RE: Is London Bombing Leader Haroon Rashid Aswat A Double Agent For MI6?

I recently came across an article on your site which mentions John Loftus as the primary source. I thought you might like to know that Mr. Loftus' credibility and ethical standing has come under scrutiny.

The URL is:
http://www.jihadunspun.com/intheatre_internal.php?article=104908&list=/home.php

On August 7, 2005, on Fox News' "Inside Scoop with John Loftus" he gave out the home address of an Orange County CA home, claiming it was the residence of a known terrorist.

The couple, who have no known ties to terrorism, have been harassed and their home vandalized. The local police have stationed a squad car outside their home to protect them 24 /7.

The "suspected" terrorist moved out of the home three years before the broadcast.

John Loftus has demonstrated a singular disregard for accuracy and public safety. His actions seemed geared towards inciting mob violence and the public lynching of innocent people.

I would avoid him in the future, as his lack of ethical standards and inability to distinguish truth from fiction will mar any article in which he is used as a source. His name will bring into question the accuracy and credibility of those who reference him.

As of this writing, FOX news has offered a one line apology in one online publication, Loftus has posted an apology to his web site, and he's sent an e-mail apologizing for his actions to the family.

FOX news has not published or aired a retraction or apology that even comes to the kind of exposure the original threat received.

Because of his reckless and dangerous behavior, I'm encouraging others to stop giving this dangerous and highly unstable man a forum. Any statements from Mr. Loftus are unlikely to "send shockwaves around the world" as he has demonstrated that reality and accuracy are not considerations when he says or writes anything. A growing number of people are realizing that Mr. Loftus is not a reliable source, but a fountain of misinformation. Only those more interested in sensationalism than accuracy should use him as a source.

--------------------------------------

Of course, the above e-mail bounced back when I sent it to the address listed on their site, which is also the address in their whois data.

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

bkennedy@jihadunspun.net

Technical details of permanent failure:
PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 9): 503 This mail server requires authentication when attempting to send to a non-local e-mail address. Please check your mail client settings or contact your administrator to verify that the domain or address is defined for this server.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

iTunes 6.0 is out

iTunes version 6.0 is out, adding support for Video Syncing. No other features appear to have been removed, which is a refreshing change for an iTunes release. Anyone else remember the plug-in for copying songs FROM your iPod, killed in iTunes 4.5? Anyone know if this workaround to enable iPod Download still works?

Friday, September 30, 2005

Quote of the Day

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction."
- Blaise Pascal

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Sex, cars and fast women who work for cash

Brazilian brothels gagged by sensitive punters in censorship orgy. Latin lovers find censorship hard to swallow, say ads "blown out of proportion."

Brothel ads too racy for Grand Prix Thu Sep 22, 2005 8:31 AM ET165

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Two high-class brothels hoping to attract racers and pit crews in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix were shut down after they posted sexually explicit advertisements on 30 billboards around South America's largest city.

Sao Paulo Mayor Jose Serra demanded the billboards be covered with blank white sheets and his code enforcement officers sealed doorways to the brothels, Romanza and Cafe Millenium, with concrete blocks.

The billboards showed a photo made to look like a scantily clad woman was performing fellatio on a man in a racing uniform. Captions on the advertisements said in both Portuguese and English: "Do you know what happens after the (winners') podium?."

Another advertisement in Sao Paulo targeting race car drivers reads "emotion in every curve" alongside a semi-nude woman, the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported.

Every year, brothel owners put up dozens of billboards targeting rich customers who visit Sao Paulo for the Formula One race.

But since taking office in January, the tough-talking Serra has tried to clean up the sleazy side of Sao Paulo, including shutting down cheap downtown hotels frequented by crack addicts.

Prostitution in Brazil is legal, but pimping is not. To avoid hassles from police, many brothel owners say they run "relaxation clubs for men" and that sexual services are not provided in exchange for money.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Monday, September 19, 2005

White House Press Conference

9-19-2005 White House press conference:

ABC Reporter: President Bush, what's your position on Roe versus Wade?

President G. W. Bush: I really don't care how people get out of New Orleans.

ABC Reporter: That's not quite what I was trying to ask.

President G. W. Bush: Oh, I'm sorry. I don't care how they get out of Key West either.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Too True, all too true

At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he is lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies. - PG Wodehouse

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Get John Loftus Off the Air

John Loftus is a name that will hopefully go down in infamy as an example of irresponsible and reckless reporting.

On August 7, 2005, on Fox News' "Inside Scoop with John Loftus" he gave out the home address of an Orange County CA home, claiming it was the residence of a known terrorist.

Predictably, the home has been the target of vandalism, threats and entire web sites sprang up dedicated to photographs of and maps to the home.

Aside from the lynch mob mentality involved in such an operation, there's the simple fact that the residents of the home have no known ties to terrorism.

As a matter of fact, the "suspected" terrorist moved out of the home three years before the broadcast.

As of this writing, FOX news has offered a one line apology in one on line publication, Loftus has posted an apology to his web site, and he's sent an e-mail apologizing for his actions to the family.

FOX news has not published or aired a retraction or apology that even comes to the kind of exposure the original threat received.

Because of his reckless and dangerous behavior, I'm encouraging others to get the word out, and convince the media to stop giving this dangerous and highly unstable man a forum.

Track down any references to John Loftus, contact the publications using him as a source or reporter, and tell them what you think.

An example e-mail would be:

I recently came across an article in which your site used John Loftus as a source. I thought you might like to know that Mr. Loftus' credibility and ethical standing has come under scrutiny.

Specifically, he gave the home address of a Southern California couple, claiming that it was the residence of a terrorist.

The couple, who have no known ties to terrorism, have been harassed and their home vandalized. The local police have stationed a squad car outside their home to protect them 24 /7.

John Loftus has demonstrated a singular disregard for accuracy and public safety. His actions seemed geared towards inciting mob violence and the public lynching of innocent people.

I would avoid him in the future, as his lack of ethical standards and inability to distinguish truth from fiction will mar any article in which he is used as a source. His name will bring your own accuracy and credibility into question.


John's National Radio Broadcast Schedule, according to his web site

Call Sign Frequency City State Time
WABC-AM 770 New York NY M-F (10p-1a)
KIXW-AM 960 Apple Valley (Los Angeles) CA M-F 7P-10P
KSFO-AM 560 San Francisco CA M-F 3a-5a
WGAW-AM 1340 Gardner (Boston) MA M-F (10p-1a)
WRKO-AM 680 Boston MA M-F (10p-1a)
WMAL-AM 630 Washington DC M-F (9p-1a)
WWBA-AM 1040 Tampa FL M-F Mid-3a as of 5/2/2004
WLVU-AM 1470 Tampa FL M-F Mid-3a as of 5/4/2004 (Simulcast of WWBA in overnights)
WXCE-AM 1260 Amery (Minneapolis) WI M-F 9p-midnight
KXL-AM 950 Portland OR M-F (10p-1a)
WKMI-AM 1360 Kalamazoo (Grand Rapids) MI M-F 10p-Midnight Clearing all 3 hour spots
WPEP-AM 1570 Tauton (Providence) MA M-F 10p-1a
WWSC-AM 1450 Glens Falls (Albany) NY M-F 10p-1a
KYOS-AM 1480 Merced (Fresno) CA M-F 7P-10P
WHON-AM 930 Centerville (Dayton) IN M-F (10p-1a)
WPFB-AM 910 Dayton OH M-F (10p-1a) sat 9p-1a
KNSS-AM 1240 Wichita KS M-F (10p-1a)
WINK-AM 1200 Ft. Myers FL M-F (10p-1a)
KXLY-AM 920 Spokane WA M-F (10p-1a)
WBCF-AM 1240 Florence (Huntsville) AL M-F (10p-11p)
WBAC-AM 1340 Chattanooga TN M-F (10p-1a)
WTRC-AM 1340 Elkhart (South Bend) IN M-F 1a-4a
KXIC-AM 800 Iowa City (Cedar Rapids) IA M-F 9p-midnight
WVMC-AM 1360 Mount Carmel (Evansville) IN M-F (10p-1a)
KION-AM 1460 Salinas (Monterrey) CA M-F (8p-10p)
KSLI-AM 1280 Abilene TX M-F (9p-12a)

Monday, August 29, 2005

Gay coffee burns fundie panties in "Famous American" quote brew ha ha. Starbucks refuses to dilute position.

Gay coffee burns fundie panties in "Famous American" quote brew ha ha. Starbucks refuses to dilute position, remains firm in face of bitter opposition from frothing conservatives. Refuses to closet this cup.


From the Seattle Times

A national Christian women's organization is accusing the Seattle-based coffee maker of promoting a homosexual agenda

"I think it's wiser for them to stay out of these issues so that they don't offend conservatives and people of faith. ... If you want my money, support some of my causes," said Maureen Richardson, state director of Concerned Women for America of Washington

Maureen appeard to be completely unaware in the contradiction in her "Stay out all together and support my stance" position.

Monday, May 9, 2005

PJ of Groklaw.Net, stalking victim

Exclusive: Who Is 'PJ' Pamela Jones of Groklaw.Net? — The now-famous opinion-shaping open source leader Pamela Jones, aka 'PJ,' doesn't give conventional face-to-face interviews. Never has, near as anyone knows.'

Maureen O'Gara is a "journalist" of dubious skill and accuracy. Above is a link to her latest crusade, the destruction of the primary maintainer of www.groklaw.net. A quick read of Maureen's article will reveal a somewhat psychotic hatred, followed up with what amounts to stalking. She, or an agent of hers, tracked groklaw's editor down to a New York Apartment, and then to the home of the woman's mother!

Maureen O'Gara has clearly gone over the deep end, and has resorted to stalking as fodder for her source material, tracking down an web site editor as if she were a consort of Whitey Bulger.

It's clear that SYS-CON and the so called "Linux Business News" are devoid of any journalistic merit, and have quite literally stopped to the level of newspaper tabloids and the Weekly World News.

I used to buy Linux World on the news stand if I saw a headline that interested me. The same goes for a number of SYS-CON publications, but I won't do that anymore. I'm not going to give my money to a company that's supporting a stalker in her morbid obsession with groklaw.net

Barracuda Networks and Maureen O'Gara

To: ******@barracudanetworks.com, ******@barracudanetworks.com
Date: May 9, 2005 11:10 AM
Subject: boycott of your products due to SYS-CON

I'm writing to inform you I am engaging in a personal boycott of all your publications due to your affiliation Maureen O'Gara, who is currently stalking the Groklaw author Pamela Jones.

O'Gara's most recent "article" consisted of personal information about Ms. Jones, including her home address and disparaging comments about Ms. Jones' living conditions.

The article contained a number of offensive comments about the Jehovah Witnesses, under the guise of "accusing" Ms. Jones of being one.

I will not purchase any products or services from any firms who do business with SYS-CON while a paranoid, delusional pseudo journalist such as Maureen O'Gara remains on your payroll.

I am writing your advertisers to inform them of this decision, so they are aware that their use of your site for advertising purposes is costing them business.


From: ****** <******@barracudanetworks.com>
To: *********
Date: May 9, 2005 11:24 AM
Subject: RE: boycott of your products due to SYS-CON

******
Call me *** *** ****


To: ****** <******@barracudanetworks.com>
Date: May 9, 2005 11:42 AM
Subject: Re: boycott of your products due to SYS-CON

I'm afraid I can't call you during the day today, as I am at work and need to keep my line available for client calls.

I have noting against Barracuda Networks aside from your advertising with a company that employs a stalker disguising herself as a journalist.

You can see a copy of the article in question at
http://www.clientservernews.com/

The above link does not contain the photographs of the home of Pamela Jones that ran in other online publications running the article.

So long as Maureen O'Gara is employed by SYS-CON, I will not purchase any products from any company that advertises on their sites or in their publications. If SYS-CON fires Maureen O'Gara or a company ceases advertising with SYS-CON sites and publications, then I would have no reason to avoid their products.


From: ****** <******@barracudanetworks.com>
To: ***********
Date: May 9, 2005 11:46 AM
Subject: RE: boycott of your products due to SYS-CON

We don't emplyy this person according to our records.


To: ****** <******@barracudanetworks.com>
Date: May 9, 2005 11:52 AM
Subject: Re: boycott of your products due to SYS-CON

I know you don't employ Maureen O'Gara, however, you advertise on web sites owned and operated by SYS-CON, who does employ her. So long as your advertisements run on SYS-CON owned sites, and Maureen O'Gara remains a SYS-CON employee, then I will not purchase your products.

This is nothing personal, I'm informing all of the companies that advertise on SYS-CON sites of the same thing.

Monday, April 25, 2005

Rebuild Windows Boot.ini

This should work for W2K, W2003 and XP all versions. I've only tested it on W2K Server with a W2003 CD.

Boot from a Windows 2003 Server CD The command you want doesn't exist in earlier Windows versions, but you can use a Windows 2003 Server recovery console to rebuild the boot.ini for XP and w2K

Go to the recovery console.

Select the Windows install you want to repair.

Run the command:

bootcfg /rebuild

If you get an error that the disk may be damaged, run:

chkdsk c:

The /f option is not available in the recovery console

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Pope Benedict XVI

Former Hitler Youth Member Elected Pope!

There's already a book about Benedict XVI, the Pope elected just a few hours ago.

The Publisher's page is here.

You can download a sample chapter as a PDF here(PDF)

And let's not forget catholicplanet.com, which argues that Benedict XVI is the second to last Pope before the return of Christ. Fascinating reading to say the least, and this LJ entry goes into more detail.

From CNN

In the Vatican, he [Newly Elected Pope Benedict XVI] has been the driving force behind crackdowns on liberation theology, religious pluralism, challenges to traditional moral teachings on issues such as homosexuality, and dissent on such issues as women's ordination.

Emphasis Mine

Monday, April 18, 2005

I hate cars, I REALLY hate cars

I get to work, and pull towards the back of the small, compact but serviceable lot. I stall the engine while trying to back up. I try to start the engine. The lights come on in the car, but I hear nothing from the engine itself.

"Feh, I must not have been pressing the clutch right."

Try again.

Nope, that's not it.

"Something with the position of the steering wheel?"

Nope, still nothing from the engine. The starter isn't even turning over.

At this point I've starting to swear. A coworker notices that he can pull the positive lead right off my battery, and says that the battery is probably "Not getting purchase, and not recharging."

"Damn Battery" I mutter, glad of the emergency jump start kit I got at a Christmas gift. I tighten the problem lead and try to jump start the car.

No dice. Jump starting fails to get even a murmur form the engine.

Checking the fuses also yielded no love.

I ended up walking to the Sullivan across the street and handing them my key. I told them where the car was and am waiting for them to show up and take it.

In the mean time, most my coworkers have to park on the street to leave room for them to come in with a tow truck when they get off their asses and to move the sucker.

Yeah, because you know after paying my taxes, getting a bunny fixed and struggling with credit card debt, I desperately needed to spend money on engine work on a car with cosmetic damage I can't afford to repair.

I'm not QUITE to the point of putting it up for sale, but this is getting pathetic. I've had it less than a year. Part of my brain is saying "Sell it, get rid of it, get another Toyota." Another part is saying "You drove a convertible all blooming winter. Do you have any idea what a sap you'd be to sell it before driving it with the top off?"

Senator Santorum, Too Stupid to Breed

Sources:
Issue turns personal for Santorums
Father First, Senator Second

God puts smack down on ultra conservative senator, but senator is too dumb to realize what happened.

"I killed his son to get him to see late term abortions from the mother's side, but he's too insensitive to his wife's suffering to have any empathy, and too stupid to see the point I'm trying to make."

When asked about future plans for dealing with senator Santorum God replied, "I thought about making his kids gay, to try and force him to see gay rights from a different viewpoint, but Lucifer started chanting about how well that worked with Dick Cheny. I've given up on trying to make American see something from an alternate viewpoint by making them live it. If it's another family member, they just ship them off to be 'treated' and if I do something to their own bodies, they babble about me testing their convictions or Satan trying to attack them for being so virtuous."

When asked about the message to be conveyed by the September 11th attacks, God grew irate and said "None. There's no message in it. It's not judgment on anyone. I nearly struck Pat Robertson with Leprosy when he claimed it was my judgment on America over gay rights. I decided that was too Old Testament, so I just made him see images of black pots and kettles everywhere for a couple of months."

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Sent to "The Daily Shark Tank"

This programmer Pilot Fish is part of a team developing a distance learning product for a multinational financial firm.

Fish Says, "We were building it as an add on to our existing code base, and all of out other clients used the social security number as a username, so we did the same thing with the new client's setup.

Fast forward three months. The site is going live in three days and 700 students from the New York office are in the system. That's when the firm's Chief Privacy Officer takes a look. "Naturally he was horrified, and demanded the Social Security Numbers be deleted. We generated new usernames based on other criteria and moved on."

Two days after go live, the client says the system needs to tie in with their Peoplesoft system. They send a chart of Social Security Numbers and the Peoplesoft ID, but no other data. Naturally, sales promises this as a free reporting add on.

It takes about a week to explain to the client that there's no way to add these IDs to the database, because the Social Security numbers have already been purged, and the backups deleted.

In the end, the client sends another spreadsheet with the Peoplesoft ID Numbers and the users' names, but again, no other data.

"While this works for many users, it took over a year to iron out all the snafus with names like "John Smith" and "Sara Miller."

Notes on SQL

Asterisks in select statements are something of a performance hog. I try not to use them in production code unless I actually need all the columns in the table.

Let me give you a real world example:

The stock version of the IntraLearn ASP 3.0 LMS can handle about 100 to 150 course logins a day before it grinds to a halt. It ships with no indexes.

I set up the performance monitor for about 12 hours and fed the results into the MS SQL "Create Index Wizard." The resulting indexes allowed the system to handle 400 to 500 logins a day.

Next, I decrypted the Cold Fusion scripts in which IntraLearn had been written (CF gives you the option of a rather absurd "encryption" routine to obfuscate your code) and started rewriting queries. All I did was remove asterisks and replace them with references to the actual columns used in the code. The result was a system, still on the same hardware, that could handle 1,300 to 1,500 student logins a day.

Enabling Cold Fusion's query result caching for language variable queries added another 200 daily logins. I did more to optimize IntraLearn after that, but that's not relevant here.

The advice about indexes is good. If you do a select * the only index used is generally the clustered index. It's always better to have indexes that reflect the actual queries you run, but a select * eliminates the possibility of doing that.

One way to see the difference is to run a few select queries in the MS SQL Query Analyzer with "Show Execution Plan" enabled. It adds an "Execution Plan" tab next to "Grids" and "Messages" that tells you, among other things, which indexes if any are being used to process the query.

An easy way to test one query against another is to run them both at the same time, and see what percentage of the total Query cost each one represents. I used this trick at my last job to convince the CTO that a few applications needed some work. Looking up the same data twice and demonstrating the existing query ate up 85% of the Query cost was a simple and persuasive argument. Not terribly scientific, but persuasive.

For example, say you want to get the imageid and expiration date for all the items in photos_def. On my current test database, I run the following queries:

    select * from photos_def

select imageid, expires_on from photos_def

The one with the asterisk represents 77.05% of the total Query cost.

Another advantage to only retrieving the columns you need is the reduced memory and processing overhead. Using the more efficient query means I don't have to iterate through the other values or waste memory assigning them to local variables. Don't underestimate this memory and CPU savings. It adds up FAST.

Matthew (Webmaster of onlineconfessional.com)


This was written as part of an in office conversation about this Usenet post


David Portas Oct 8 2004, 1:00 pm show options
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.sqlserver.server
From: "David Portas" - Find messages by this author
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2004 21:00:18 +0100
Local: Fri,Oct 8 2004 1:00 pm
Subject: Re: asterisk in select_list in queries...

Best practice is to avoid using SELECT * in queries (except in an EXISTS
subquery or other subqueries that don't return data and aren't referenced by
an outer query).

Listing the column names makes sense in an N-Tier environment because you
want to make efficient use of network resources by returning to the client
only the data that is actually needed. This is an important difference from
a desktop, ISAM database like FoxPro where you have to retrieve a whole
record whether all the data is required or not.

Listing only the required columns also increases the opportunities for SQL
Server to optimize your query by making use of indexes.

Also, listing column names improves reliability and ease of maintenance. If
you later add another column you don't want to break existing code that
doesn't require that column. Use a column list and then just modify the code
that needs to reference the new column. If you use an asterisk in your
SELECT list then potentially more code could need modification and more code
would need to be unit-tested for each schema change.

Shortcuts? In Query Analyzer you can drag a list of column names from the
Object Browser into the query window. That can save you a lot of typing.

--
David Portas
SQL Server MVP

"Encrption.txt (sic)" in the wild

Regular readers (Do I even HAVE any of those? I doubt it.) Will remember this post about an amusing file found in the IntraLearn LMS.

Here are a couple examples of "Encrption.txt (sic)" in the wild. To check for it on your IntraLearn install, just add /cgi-bin/Encrption.txt to the end of the URL itself, deleting /home/ or other information at the end of the URL.

Why does this file matter? Because it consists of the IntraLearn corporation admitting that it distributes software for which it has lost the source code, and as a result, has no way to know what's really in the files they distribute. Seems the perfect place for someone to have put a back door or logic bomb, doesn't it?

The sad thing is, the code isn't compiled, it's encrypted using the cfencrypt utility that comes with Cold Fusion. A quick web search for cfdecrypt would lead them to a command line utility that would allow them to recover the source code of the offending files.

That's right folks, a quick Google is too complicated for IntraLearn developers.

Please note, an absence of the warning about the files does not mean your version of IntraLearn is magically running code for which IntraLearn has the source.

SiteIntraLearn SiteLink to file
UMass Roxbury http://roxburycc.umassonline.net/home/ View the sample
Enbanet Powered Boston University Site http://216.234.48.127/home/ View the sample

Friday, March 11, 2005

WTF is up with Australia???

As many of you already know, news.google.com has introduced some customization options. You can delete categories, and add custom categories. As a joke, I added an Anna Nicole Smith category, and this was today's first article.

I post it because I can't for the life of me figure out why this was even printed, or why they seem to make a connection between this guy leaving his marketing job and having attended a party where Anna Nicole Smith was in attendance.

And what the heck does this mean?

A source from the partying group said last night that Mr Hoy "very kindly" paid for the drinks. Smith had apparently caught with "her bare hands" a live goldfish at the restaurant.

Of course, this line sounds like the Anna we all know:

"They were getting on well," the source said. "But she was getting on well with everyone, actually."

I've learned one thing from this story. They clearly have some strange ideas about what's newsworthy in Australia.

Heidi Fleiss is a moron and Martha Stewart is still a criminal

Heidi Fleiss was recently quoted as saying:

"It's so wrong what they did to her, just because she [Martha Stewart] is a powerful woman. "

Sorry Fleiss. Stewart happened to engage in what's called "Insider Trading." Ever since Stewart was accused, I've heard all kinds of rationales about why she shouldn't be punished for it, and why it shouldn't even be illegal.

On the surface, what she did was little more than the antics of almost every "Wall Street" Movie villain since the genre was born, but insider trading is illegal for a lot of reasons. I won't go into the details, but after six years of reading Securities Continuing Education courses, I think I'm justified in saying anyone who thinks insider trading is "OK" is speaking from a place of deep and profound ignorance about Finance.

As a quick example, insider trading is what allowed many Enron executives to dump their stock before the accounting scandal became public.

You see, Stewart has what's called a "Series 6 License" It happens to be one of the tougher licenses to get, and it's tightly regulated. It also means that you;re supposed to know better about how to behave. The actions that would get the random joe six months would literally get a Series 6 license holder Six Years, again because they're supposed to know better. As one friend of mine who HAS a series six license put it, "If I'd done exactly what Stewart had done, I'd be in Federal 'pound me in the ass' prison for six to ten years."

What Ms. Fleiss and the others who blithely and ignorantly worship Martha Stewart are ignoring, is that she got an absurdly mild slap on the wrist because she's a wealthy and powerful woman.

What people don't realize is that even though they don't understand it, what Martha did was illegal and carries stiff penalties for good reason. What they don't realize is that she got a sentence that was an insignificant fraction of what anyone else would have gotten. What the judge did in sentencing her was the legal equivalent of falling on his knees and kissing her toes.

So, Ms Fleiss, I'll keep reading your amusing comments, not out of any actual concern for what you have to say, but because I find painfully stupid people amusing whenever they're not in office. Besides, it reminds me why the best line of work you could come up with was as a whore.

Thursday, March 3, 2005

"Teddy" Story Contest

On March 3, 2005, ABC Online ran an Associated Press story about the "Teddy" prototype on display at Microsoft.

Slashdot.org also has a discussion about this story

On the surface, it's a baby monitor on Steroids, but as any imaginative soul can see from reading the article, there are a number of far more sinister implications afoot.

The teddy bear sitting in the corner of the child's room might look normal, until his head starts following the kid around using a face recognition program, perhaps also allowing a parent talk to the child through a special phone, or monitor the child via a camera and wireless Internet connection. ... "The vision behind this is to be two places at once,"

My mind began to whirl with ideas. How would this change the way we parent? How can something like this be abused? How would controlling parents use a device like this? How would something like this change our society?

What kinds of children will we be dealing with when parents use devices like this in place of their actual physical presence, or for pervasive monitoring?

A few years ago I saw a Mocumentary from the BBC that postulated what the future might hold, and one of the segments depicted a mother planting a tracking device in her daughter's arm that was part of a birth control implant, thus giving the mother the ability to track the daughter's motions 24/7.

So I propose a contest. Write a story involving "Teddy". Make it positive, negative, hopeful or pessimistic. Encase the hardware in different shells if you like (A clown or a Jack in the box spring to mind). Is it a gift from parent to child? Is a workaholic parent using it to "Spend time with the kids" while at the office? Is an obsessive individual or a stalker using it to monitor their prey? Is it being used as nothing more than a cuddly baby monitor, sort of a remote control Teddy Ruxpin?

Is the child's sense of "What's alive" being messed with? Does the distinction between human and machine blur, and what is the result?

Ask and or answer any of these questions.

Categories, judging criteria and prizes will be determined later. For now, just post your ideas and links to your stories.

Feel free to spread the word about this little contest, and get others involved. The topic fascinates me, and I'm intersted in reading what other people have to say about it.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=545978&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
By ALLISON LINN
The Associated Press

REDMOND, Wash. Mar 2, 2005 — The teddy bear sitting in the corner of the child's room might look normal, until his head starts following the kid around using a face recognition program, perhaps also allowing a parent talk to the child through a special phone, or monitor the child via a camera and wireless Internet connection.

The plush prototype, on display at Microsoft Corp.'s annual gadget showcase Wednesday, is one of several ideas researchers have for robots. The idea is to create a virtual being that can visit the neighboring cubicle for a live telephone chat even as its owner is traveling thousands of miles away, or let the plumber into the house while its owner enjoys a pleasant afternoon in the sun.

Plenty of companies are already building robots for the work place, and toy companies have created plush dolls that know a child's name or can incorporate other personal information. But Steven Bathiche, a research and development program manager with Redmond-based Microsoft, said his company's projects go further.
Top Stories

"The vision behind this is to be two places at once," Bathiche said.

The "Teddy" project was one of about 150 projects on display at Microsoft's TechFest, a two-day event that gives Microsoft's worldwide team of researchers the chance to show product developers their sometimes far-flung creations, and perhaps find a fit for the projects in a future, marketable product.

TechFest opened Wednesday, mainly to full-time Microsoft employees. The company expected about 6,000 to attend, including Chairman Bill Gates and other executives. A few government officials, academics and journalists also were allowed.

Raman Sarin, a Microsoft development engineer, was just looking for a way to learn more about programming smart phones when he decided to create a program to monitor traffic a constant complaint in the car-clogged Seattle area. The result is SmartPhlow, a program that not only monitors current traffic patterns but also uses real-time and archived data to predict when the next backup might occur.

Monday, February 28, 2005

$10M USD would have been saved if the Big Dig had been Open Source

For those outside of Boston, the "Bug Dig" is an incredibly expensive public works project that's become an icon for all that's wrong with public works projects. Now, Computerworld.com reports that "Software ownership battle adds $10M to cost of 'Big Dig'." Specifically, Transdyn Inc. wrote the first stage, and refused to turn over code to Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc. who was writing the second stage. If only it had all been Open Source, they could have just downloaded it off Sourceforge...

Software ownership battle adds $10M to cost of 'Big Dig'
Code ownership adds to woes at infamous Boston project

News Story by Marc Songini

FEBRUARY 25, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Failure to secure access to the source code of a key application added more than $10 million to the cost of the infamous Big Dig highway construction project in Boston, according to the Massachusetts state auditor.

The application, called the Integrated Project Control System (IPCS), handles traffic, roadway, fire and security systems management for the $14 billion Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project. The software development project remains unfinished.

The application was created by Transdyn Inc., which was awarded the contract for the initial phase of the project. The problem occurred when Transdyn refused to hand over access codes for the application to Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc., which won a contract to develop the next phase.

Massachusetts State Auditor Joe DeNucci this week said the failure of project managers to secure "timely ownership" of the IPCS software boosted the cost of the project, which was designed to ease highway traffic congestion moving through and around Boston. The matter wound up in court and cost the state millions in overruns and other costs, he said.

"The significance of this audit is that it's a good example of the kinds of things that went wrong in the project," said a spokesman for DeNucci. It indicates a failure to foresee that "a dispute over the access to the software code [could lead to a] problem that would delay the second phase."

The initial phase of the IPCS project started in 1994, when Pleasanton, Calif.-based transportation software maker Transdyn won a $52 million contract to develop the application for the first phase of the Big Dig. The system was based on Transdyn's Dynac transportation management software. In 1999, Honeywell won a $104 million contract to build the next phase of the system to control and monitor the entire Big Dig project.

At that point, Transdyn refused to turn over the Dynac source code to Honeywell, claiming that the technology was "proprietary and forms the cornerstone of a portion of the business." The state argued that Dynac had been modified as part of the project and had thus become a customized piece of software not subject to the legal safeguards for off-the-shelf applications.

Massachusetts paid Transdyn $350,000 in a 1999 out-of-court settlement of lawsuits that each had filed against the other. Under the agreement, Honeywell sublicensed the software from the state "under certain safeguards."

The auditor based the $10 million price tag for the problem on the state's decision to waive $2.72 million in damages it believed it was owed by Transdyn and an estimated $7.2 million cost for the four-month delay in the project caused by the interruption of the software handover -- bringing the total cost overrun to $10.3 million.

Meanwhile, Honeywell in December negotiated an end to its contract for the project, for which costs have ballooned from $104 million to $188 million since 1999.

Vic Miller, vice president and general counsel at Columbia, Md.-based Honeywell, said the audit bolsters his company's position that the late delivery of the Dynac software was among the factors that affected its ability to deliver its portion of IPCS for the agreed-upon price.

Currently, Transdyn is negotiating with Big Dig authorities to complete the IPCS system, said a Transdyn spokesman. He said the company "is not in a position to comment" on the auditor's report.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which manages the Big Dig, declined to comment on the specifics of the audit. In an e-mail statement, the authority said, "We have been very candid about the issues we have encountered with the installation of the IPCS system and have already referred those issues over [to the state attorney general] for potential cost recovery actions."

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Gator in the Hen House

Among the appointees to the department's 20 member "Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee" is [dhs.gov] D. Reed Freeman, the "chief privacy officer" of Claria Corporation.

As reported by Salon. and commented on by slashdot.

Gator CPO at the Department of Homeland Security

pcidevel writes "D. Reed Freeman, the "Chief Privacy Officer" of Claria Networks (formerly Gator), the creators of the pervasive spyware package GAIN, has been appointed to the Department of Homeland Security's "Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee"."

Of course, the anti-spyware laws will now die before coming to a vote, as spyware is the new way to protect our safety.

Now I understand what the government meant by increasing the data they gather.

Linux probably WILL become illegal soon, as it's very nature means you could remove the government back doors if you wanted to.

I'm not sure The Shrub could have come up with a more effective way of announcing what he thinks of privacy concerns without installing two way TV sets in every home and declaring himself the be our big brother.

Crap.

Time to move to Canada.

Salon.com article:

There's a gator guarding your privacy at the Department of Homeland Security.


Among the appointees to the department's 20 member "Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee" is D. Reed Freeman, the "chief privacy officer" of Claria Corporation.

That's the company formerly known as Gator, infamous for its software, a.k.a. GAIN, which stands for Gator Advertising Information Network. It's sadly familiar to many frustrated Web surfers, who have been surprised to discover it mysteriously installed on their desktops serving them extra helpings of ads.

The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Dow Jones Company sued Gator back in 2002 for the way its ads appeared as parasites on their sites. But even though the original Gator software can be considered one of the original plague carriers of the spyware blight -- be careful about calling it that. The company has repeatedly threatened its critics with libel lawsuits for dubbing it "spyware."

The fact that a "privacy officer" for a company that made its name sneaking onto computers all over the word is now helping to determine what should be done with data collected by the Department of Homeland Security might be alarming to some people. But is it really all that shocking? The D.H.S.'s own chief privacy officer is no stranger to the ins and outs of interactive marketing either. She used to work for the online marketing firm, DoubleClick.

The Privacy Advisory Committee will hold its first meeting April 6, 2005 in Washington D.C. Can pop-up ads promoting every fluctuation in the terror alert level be far behind?

-- Katharine Mieszkowski

Biblical Marriages.

Just a thought I had in reference to this thread about The Bush Administration appointing the Gator CPO to a post with the Department of Homeland Security

Wait a second...

The Marriages described in The Bible allow men to have as many wives as they can afford, concubines, especially if they can't get an acceptable heir out of one of the wives, and the women are treated as property with no rights of their own.

So I guess if I wanted to have a "Biblical" marriage, I'd have to be a particularly unpleasant polygamist Mormon.

Oh, and kick each wife out of the house while she's having her period, because she's unclean.

And kill any of them who cheat on me.

Man, this "Biblical Marriage" thing sounds like far too much work, expense and surveillance. I'll stick with my current marriage. This whole "Equal Partner" thing works much better in my opinion.

And as a side note, in my experience, Lesbian couples have FUN weddings. Far less stuffy and more fun than the normal "Church, white wedding, reception at a bad event center".

Thursday, February 17, 2005

An odd source of Blog SPAM

Well, this one takes the cake for odd BLOG SPAM.

As many of you know, This Blog receives a number of posts per day of random jerks trying to boost their search engine ranking by spewing out BLOG Spam. I filter my posts, so I end up deleting them long before they are visible on this site.

Most of them are for Poker, Porn or Viagra, with the occasional post from places like an alleged Data Recovery company.

I can now add Military Academies to the lists of places using BLOG SPAM to boost their search engine rankings. Get a load of this:



Date: 2005-02-16
Time: 17:16:44

IP Address: 61.19.243.11
Name: military schools
Email Address: troubledteen@militaryschools.com
URL: http://www.able-militaryschools.com
Comments:

Dealing with troubled teens? Maybe it's time to consider military school.



It's a typically formulaic post, so it could have been from an actual bot. While this could be one of the "students" lashing out, the search terms "troubled teens" and "military school" are the kinds of phrases a military school would WANT associated with it.

At first I was going to assume someone at said sites was actually dumb or immoral enough to contact with one of the "Boost your Search Engine Rankings Now!" sites. Then I took a look at the sites.

They're basically link sites pimping supposed military academies, so it's even more likely that the people behind this Blog Spam are just building a portal as a revenue source.

It just started yesterday, and neither of the sites being pimped have any real web presence in terms of sites linking to them, but then, neither does this blog, so that's hardly an indication of anything sleazy, just a lack of interest on the part of others.

Anyway, below is Whois data on both sites.


Domain name: able-militaryschools.com

Administrative Contact:

Netscraper WebServices (domains@netscraper.net)
+1.14357031858
Fax: +1.4358651588
3679 Crimson Fairway
Washington, UT 84780
US

Billing Contact:

Netscraper WebServices (domains@netscraper.net)
+1.14357031858
Fax: +1.4358651588
3679 Crimson Fairway
Washington, UT 84780
US

Technical Contact:

Netscraper WebServices (domains@netscraper.net)
+1.14357031858
Fax: +1.4358651588
3679 Crimson Fairway
Washington, UT 84780
US

Registrant Contact:

Netscraper WebServices (domains@netscraper.net)
+1.14357031858
Fax: +1.4358651588
3679 Crimson Fairway
Washington, UT 84780
US

Status: Locked

Name Servers:
ns.rackspace.com
ns2.rackspace.com

Creation date: 30 Jan 2001 13:30:32
Expiration date: 30 Jan 2006 13:30:32



Registration Service Provided By:
Contact: domains@netscraper.net
Visit:

Domain name: schoolsfortroubledteens.com

Registrant Contact:
NA
Roger Lichfield (lich@infowest.com)
NA
Fax:
P.O. Box 925
La Verkin, UT 84745 US
NA,
US

Administrative Contact:
NA
Roger Lichfield (lich@infowest.com)
NA
Fax:
P.O. Box 925
La Verkin, UT 84745 US
NA,
US

Technical Contact:
NA

Host Master (core@web2010.com)
407-445-3033
Fax:
NA
NA,
US

Billing Contact:
NA
Roger Lichfield (lich@infowest.com)
NA
Fax:
P.O. Box 925
La Verkin, UT 84745 US
NA,
US

Status: Locked

Name Servers:
NS.WEB2010.COM
NS2.WEB2010.COM
NS3.WEB2010.COM
NS4.WEB2010.COM

Creation date: 17 May 2000 18:27:40
Expiration date: 17 May 2005 18:27:40

Posted by Halleyscomet at 09:49 AM

Thursday, February 10, 2005

More Phone calls from Global Travel International

So I'm sitting at my desk, and my cell phone rings at 5:02 pm with “Unavailable” as the phone number. As calls from my mother often have this designation, I answered it.

It was another recording from Global Travel International.

During the message, I heard the “Call Waiting” beep, so I hung up, and answered the incoming call.

It was yet ANOTHER recording from Global Travel International. It was still 5:02 pm.

So, rather pissed off, I called them at 888-521-0176, where I spoke with “Mark.”

He said that my phone number had been entered into their web site on 2-10-2005, and that the e-mail address that had been provided was: kinghtc562003@yahoo.com

He deleted me from the database.

I told him I wanted my number placed on their permanent Do Not Call List.

His reply is what's infuriated me. He said that, per the Federal Do Not Call regulations, if someone requests information from them, and provides my phone number, they can call me.

He further stated that if my phone number was submitted AGAIN they WOULD call me again.

The fact that this is a cell phone was not a factor.

Mark then gave me what he said was his direct line at 800-717-4230. Haven't called it yet though.

This brings me to a question: Anyone know if their refusal to leave me alone is legal? Can they really just call whoever they want if someone else provides a phone number, even if someone from that number has already called to complain?

Posted by Halleyscomet at 05:14 PM

Monday, February 7, 2005

Minidisc or IPod?

Whuffle and I have been debating what to spend some CITI reward points on, an IPod or a Minidisc player.

As Whuffle is a MAC user, MAC support is a litmus test feature, so not knowing of any MAC support for my NET-MG Minidisc recorder, I decided to look online during lunch. All I found was instructions on how to use the digital or analog out of a MAC to record audio in real time. Want to record two hours to a Minidisc? Then it'll take two hours!

So I contacted Sony Customer support:




Customer:
Message : My wife needs a new portable audio device. She has an old Minidisc player, but the recorder has passed on. The repairs cost almost as much as getting her a portable NET-MG.

While I've been very unhappy with the software you've released to work with the Minidisc, I've been very happy with the hardware itself.

My question is, Is there a way to get any of the portable Sony Minidisc players to connect to a MAC via USB or firewire? While Itunes integration would be ideal, it's hardly necessary.

The bottom line is, if there's a Minidisc player that works with MAC, then my wife will get that Minidisc player, if not, then she'll be getting an Ipod.

So, is there a portable Minidisc player that's MAC OS X compatible?



Response (Brent) 02/07/2005 10:08 AM
Thank you for contacting us with your inquiry regarding Sony's Mini Disc Walkmans.

The software supplied with the MD Walkmans currently showcased at Sony Style is not compatible with the Mac operating system.

The Sony Style Team is available to assist you with further inquiries.



Customer 02/07/2005 11:57 AM
That's a shame. She used to have a Minidisc recorder that was part of the stereo system, and she liked it. We were really hoping to find something she could use with her MAC.

Since I'm transitioning to Linux, and she's a MAC user, we'll be getting an IPod instead. While Linux support for the IPod is unofficial, at least it exists.

Does the Linux RealOne player support Net-MG? I'd like to keep using my Minidisc recorder. Is there any Linux support for Minidisc players? I've been using the RealOne software with my Minidisc player on Windows, since the Sony software is pretty much non functional.



Response (Brent) 02/07/2005 12:11 PM
Thank you for contacting us with your inquiry regarding Sony's Mini Disc Walkmans.

The software supplied with the MD Walkmans currently showcased at Sony Style is not compatible with the Linux operating system.

I suggest that you have a look at the MDPORTDG2 PC link kit that is compatible with Windows 98, 2000 or Me and Mac OS 9.0.4 or higher with Apple Extension; not currently compatible with Mac OSX.

To view the MDPORTDG2 PC link kit online at Sony Style, please click on the link below:

http://servicesales.sel.sony.com

Please enter the model number as "MDPORTDG2" in the search box on the displayed page. Please select the "Part or Accessory number " radio button and click on the Search link.

Please feel free to contact the Sony Style Team for further assistance.



Customer 02/07/2005 12:52 PM
She already has a digital out on her MAC, so the MDPORTDG2 wouldn't be of much use. This looks like a real time recording option, and a digital cable from Radio Shack would do the same job for her, only under OS X.

I'm disappointed. I didn't buy a Clie because it only accepted Memory Stick for external memory. Now I find Minidiscs are pretty much a PC only option.

Your only option for transferring data to a Minidisc player under MAC involves running an older version of the OS, and real time recording instead of something faster. Even that option doesn't exist under Linux. Not supporting Linux I can understand, but why ignore the MAC?

Are there any plans for MAC Support? If it's in the pipeline, we would be willing to wait on a purchase, but if it's not planned, we'll just get an Ipod and be done with it.



Response (Brent) 02/07/2005 01:14 PM
Thank you for contacting us with your inquiry regarding Sony's Mini Disc Walkmans.

We have not yet received any information on future support of Mac OS by Mini Disc walkmans.

The Sony Style Team is available to assist you with further inquiries.



Customer 02/07/2005 01:26 PM
Thank you for your help. I'm sorry the Sony product won't meet my needs.



So, it looks like we'll be saving up our reward points for an Ipod.
Posted by Halleyscomet at 04:56 PM

Friday, February 4, 2005

Telemarketing calls on my cell phone

Thursday, I received a message from "Global Travel International"

They left a phone number of: "888-521-0176"

It was a recording, telling me about the $250 discount there offering me on the Travel Agent Training program they claimed I had requested.

Today, I received two more such messages.

So I called them at their 888 number, and actually spoke to a real human being, named "Donna."

"So, who are you and why am I receiving voicemail from you?"

"Well, when did you request information on..."

"I didn't."

Long and short of the conversation is that "Donna" claimed that they would only have gotten my information from someone logging it in on their web site. She took my name and number, and said she would "Take you off our list."

Remembering the Junkbuster.com information on the danger of that phrase, I said "Place me on your 'Do Not Call List.' I am on the federal 'Do Not Call' registry and if you contact me again, I'll bill you for the time it takes me to call you again."

By the time I finished that sentence, she'd hung up.

As far as I can tell, this is their web site.

I find all of this somewhat disconcerting, as I did receive a "Thank you for your resume" last week when it's been about seven months since I've even sent out any resumes.

I think I'll be paranoid about this and start the process of requesting my credit report and so on. Better safe than sorry.

If www.globaltravel.com is their web site, then below is their whois data:

Registrant:
Global Travel International (MAIICTZXED)
2600 Lake Lucien Drive, Ste 201
Maitland, FL 32751
US

Domain Name: GLOBALTRAVEL.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Global Travel International (KMFWDXPDRO) DNS_mgmt@globaltravel.com
2600 Lake Lucien Drive, Ste 201
Maitland, FL 32751
US
407-660-7800 fax: 123 123 1234

Record expires on 06-Dec-2005.
Record created on 01-Apr-1998.
Database last updated on 4-Feb-2005 17:48:18 EST.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS1.IAD.QWEST.NET 216.207.84.25
NS1.JSV.QWEST.NET 208.44.134.25

Posted by Halleyscomet at 05:44 PM

Thursday, February 3, 2005

www.try-logos.com, SPAM based firm

Well, I would consider this a new and creative SPAM.

www.try-logos.com sent me this scam gem.

#########################################################################
Return-Path:
Delivered-To:
Received: (qmail 10863 invoked from network); 3 Feb 2005 04:11:23 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO S01060040f42ce708.wp.shawcable.net) (24.76.231.202)
by mail-da-1.dns-solutions.net - 24.76.231.202 with SMTP; 3 Feb 2005 04:11:22 -0000
Date: Wen, 2 Feb 2005 20:16:07 +0000
From: Janet Connolly
X-Mailer: The Bat! (v3.0.0.8) UNREG / RH197U5YJKWVW
Reply-To: Janet Connolly
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
Message-ID: <078356732387.194811467498234@s01060040f42ce708.wp.shawcable.net>
To:
Subject: YJM: A custom Logo that express es your company! UDXZNTVM6O
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=Windows-1252
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Our art team creates a custom logo for you, based on your needs.
Years of experience have taught us how to create a logo that makes a statement that is unique to you.

In a professional manner we learn about your image and how you would like the world to perceive you and your company.
With this informat ion we then create a logo that is not 0nly unique but reflects the purpose of you and your company.

For value and a logo that reflects your image, take a few minutes and visit TryLogos!

http://www.try-logos.com/

Sincerel y
Logo Design Team

Stop this mailings: http://www.try-logos.com/uns.php
#########################################################################

Here's the whois data on the domain. Notice the contact name. Someone in their "Let's hide behind fake information" department has a sense of humor.

Registration Service Provided By: ESTHOST
Contact: sales@esthost.com
Abuse Desk Email Address: abuse@esthost.com

Domain Name: TRY-LOGOS.COM

Registrant:
Search Media Int
George Washington (support@ovishost.com)
45-89 Lenina str.
Minsk
,789521
BY
Tel. +998.214589

Creation Date: 12-Nov-2004
Expiration Date: 11-Nov-2005

Domain servers in listed order:
ns2.vhosted.biz
ns1.vhosted.biz


Administrative Contact:
Search Media Int
George Washington (support@ovishost.com)
45-89 Lenina str.
Minsk
,789521
BY
Tel. +998.214589

Technical Contact:
Search Media Int
George Washington (support@ovishost.com)
45-89 Lenina str.
Minsk
,789521
BY
Tel. +998.214589

Billing Contact:
Search Media Int
George Washington (support@ovishost.com)
45-89 Lenina str.
Minsk
,789521
BY
Tel. +998.214589

Status:LOCKED

Posted by Halleyscomet at 09:56 AM

www.try-logos.com, SPAM based firm.

Well, I would consider this a new and creative SPAM.

www.try-logos.com sent me this scam gem.

#########################################################################
Return-Path:
Delivered-To:
Received: (qmail 10863 invoked from network); 3 Feb 2005 04:11:23 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO S01060040f42ce708.wp.shawcable.net) (24.76.231.202)
by mail-da-1.dns-solutions.net - 24.76.231.202 with SMTP; 3 Feb 2005 04:11:22 -0000
Date: Wen, 2 Feb 2005 20:16:07 +0000
From: Janet Connolly
X-Mailer: The Bat! (v3.0.0.8) UNREG / RH197U5YJKWVW
Reply-To: Janet Connolly
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
Message-ID: <078356732387.194811467498234@s01060040f42ce708.wp.shawcable.net>
To:
Subject: YJM: A custom Logo that express es your company! UDXZNTVM6O
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=Windows-1252
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Our art team creates a custom logo for you, based on your needs.
Years of experience have taught us how to create a logo that makes a statement that is unique to you.


In a professional manner we learn about your image and how you would like the world to perceive you and your company.
With this informat ion we then create a logo that is not 0nly unique but reflects the purpose of you and your company.


For value and a logo that reflects your image, take a few minutes and visit TryLogos!

http://www.try-logos.com/



Sincerel y
Logo Design Team



Stop this mailings: http://www.try-logos.com/uns.php
#########################################################################

Here's the whois data on the domain. Notice the contact name. Someone in their "Let's hide behind fake information" department has a sense of humor.

Registration Service Provided By: ESTHOST
Contact: sales@esthost.com
Abuse Desk Email Address: abuse@esthost.com

Domain Name: TRY-LOGOS.COM

Registrant:
Search Media Int
George Washington (support@ovishost.com)
45-89 Lenina str.
Minsk
,789521
BY
Tel. +998.214589

Creation Date: 12-Nov-2004
Expiration Date: 11-Nov-2005

Domain servers in listed order:
ns2.vhosted.biz
ns1.vhosted.biz


Administrative Contact:
Search Media Int
George Washington (support@ovishost.com)
45-89 Lenina str.
Minsk
,789521
BY
Tel. +998.214589

Technical Contact:
Search Media Int
George Washington (support@ovishost.com)
45-89 Lenina str.
Minsk
,789521
BY
Tel. +998.214589

Billing Contact:
Search Media Int
George Washington (support@ovishost.com)
45-89 Lenina str.
Minsk
,789521
BY
Tel. +998.214589

Status:LOCKED