Sunday, July 23, 2006
I got an interesting email from a listener today:
“For the zillionth time, today on your show I heard the declaration “I cannot get high-speed service here”. For residential customers in California, high-speed service is ALWAYS available. You might recall the Federal tax on telephones to high-speed access, the Universal Services Fee. A similar thing is collected here in California. But how does that translate into high-speed internet service? You and I both know the phone companies (correctly) state DSL is not phone service, but something else.
“Speak the magic incantation: ISDN. Here in California, ISDN is still considered a “residential service”. That means that ANYBODY ANYWHERE in the state can get it. If the phone company is not able to provide the service right away, they need to run new lines, install new equipment, etc. to get the service to work. That is the law — feel free to look up the consent decree that governs residential ISDN service. Now residential ISDN is not everybody’s cup of tea. It can be hard to configure, and is not all that fast. But, if you have ISDN, you can cancel it and get DSL. Since the phone company already ran the lines to provide you the digital loop, you have the digital loop. Switch the service to DSL, and the transformation is complete. Sneaky, but legal.
“Now the phone companies are not openly promoting this. In practice it is REALLY HARD to get new residential ISDN. But a complaint to the PUC normally speeds things right up. Part of being a publicly regulated monopoly is the phone companies MUST run the lines if requested in this way.”
Interesting. Has anyone tried this? Who wants to be a guinea pig?
Tech News
The Hackers on Planet Earth (H.O.P.E) conference is going on in New York City right now, and the FBI arrested one of the speakers right before the keynote.
11a-Noon
Q Tracy from San Juan - Looking for one flat-screen monitor to use on Powermac, Powerbook, and PC; as well as being able to use the cable feed on it.
You’ll need an ADB (Apple’s special monitor output on the older Macs) to DVI adapter. To run the cable feed, you’ll need a cable tuner. As long as all three can output DVI, you’ll be fine. I like the Dell Ultrasharp widescreen monitors. The 24 inch version is $799. The Samsung Syncmasters, and the NEC monitors are also rather good. But the Dells are my favorite. For switching between sources, you may want to look into a KVM switch. I like this Iogear switch. However, the monitor may have enough ports to connect everything at once.
You may not need a KVM depending on what you want to connect to the Dell. Nik writes: I have a 24-inch Dell, I have an XBox360 on the VGA port, a PC on the DVI, a first gen Xbox on the HDTV input, and I could still put 2 SDTV connections on the Ultrasharp. Your caller dosn’t need a KVM.
Q Mark from West Lake Village - Can’t get computers connected to Pre-N network
While it’s attempting to connect, you’re surfing on a neigbor’s network, and your PC cannot connect to the Pre-N router. Here are some procedures to narrow down your problems. Make sure the computers are within line-of-sight of the router. Also, in the services menu, there’s a service called “wireless zero config”. Disable that service and see if you can connect. Again, in the services menu, disable the “computer browser” on all the wireless computers and make sure it’s only running on the wired computer.
Noon-1p
Q Paul from Santa Monica - Danger in using unsecured WiFi hotspots
Here are the problems:
1. Anybody who can see your signal can see what you’re doing. (However, if you’re on a secure website or using secured email, you’re safe)
2. Anybody can access your machine
To protect yourself, you can set up a VPN such as GotomyPC. I use a service called HotSpot VPN. As soon as you’re connected to the net, run the VPN ASAP and the outside world won’t be able to see what you’re doing. You should also check if your ISP uses secure SSL email. Also, keep file sharing off.
Q AJ from Los Angeles - Can’t access slave hard drive
Even though Windows can see the hard drive, the formatting is probably screwed up. To retrieve your data, try out Spinrite. If there’s a physical problem, you’ll be spending thousands of dollars. If it’s a software problem, Spinrite will almost always fix it.
Q Liz from Torrance - Alternatives to Norton
Norton is rather bloated because people compare features. For antispyware, I recommend Windows Defender. And for antivirus software, I recommend NOD32. As a disclaimer, NOD32 is my sponsor, but they are my sponsor because they’re my favorite.
Q Dave from North Carolina - Z Order problem
On the desktop, X and Y correspond to the location of the window. Z represents which window is on top. If alt+tab works, try looking into your settings to see if it’s looking for a second monitor. However, I think you may have to re-install Windows.
Q Gil from Wisconsin - Upgrading the Mac Mini to use Intel’s Merom
Well it may be possible if the pins and sockets are the same. I may just do this on my own.
1–2p
Q Laurence from Long Beach - Looking for hard drive-based storage device
You can get an adapter for the iPod to transfer photos to the iPod. I like the Epson models because the screen is so nice.
Q Susan from Longmont, CO - Computer rebooting on its own
I think it’s a software issue than a hardware issue. If Spinrite comes clean, use the Windows install disc and repair. When you run the installer, select the option to repair. Here’s how to reinstall Windows XP non-destructively.
Q Danny from Sun City - Computer freezing during boot
It may be a simple error where a key file got damaged. Also, the hard drive may have spewed data as the power went down. You may want to run the repair function of the Windows install. Whatever you do, don’t run a system restore because that will remove all data.
Q Kent from Realto - Can’t read DVDs
It could be that you lack the DVD decoding software. The answer is that you just have a very slow computer.
Q Sean from Virginia Beach - Plasma TVs
I like DLP. Plasma has the best color. However, there are problems with burn-in and such. Play with the controls at the store and make sure to compare the TVs.
Chat Logs and Show Audio
Listener Comments
23 July 2006
Interesting letter about ISDN.
I wonder if the same can be done for just a standard voice pair when you live 10 miles from the nearest B-box and have no telcom service of any kind?
Are telcoms required to provide even if it means putting in miles of wire to where you live?
I have heard of this method of getting DSL in rural areas in California. First ordering ISDN and canceling that order than reorder dsl. But What I have heard you will only have access to IDSL favor xDSL, at a rate of 144k. Its better than ISDN speed. Not nowhere close to the 1.5mps to 8mps of ADSL we enjoy today. At this rate It would be better to get Satellite Internet access from Wildblue 1.5mps down and 256k up. At least these speeds are comparable with basic ADSL speeds from Yahoo/ATT DSL.
True siouxmoux, as long as you don’t have too big an appetite for total bits up and down—satellite access has a weekly or monthly megabyte limit. Starband is 976.6 per week and Wild Blue is a little more generous but still limited for the most popular residential packages. Business package limits are 3–4 times higher but also twice as expensive ($150 per month in the case of Starband). I have the Starband residential package ($74/mo.) and can run over my limit for the week in just about 3 hours and 45 minutes of continuous downloading—and then I’m restricted to dial-up speed until my usage drops well below the 976.6 to what Starband calls the exit level which is based on time and amount gone over the limit. When/if DSL ever becomes available I’m getting it the next DAY and using the SB dish for target practice. Some users who don’t surf much, don’t download game demos, don’t download podcasts, don’t have kids who play the online Disney and Looney Tunes games, etc., etc., probably could get along just fine with SB or WB so I don’t want to slam them too much for those select users with no other choice and the right “usage” habits.
Ronc, Leo said on Security Now 49 I believe that if someone is trying to snag his podcasts ahead of the “official” posting and the “hook” comes in right when he’s uploading the podcast to the servers, it can truncate the podcast on that server. I don’t know if it applies in this case but if it does, you may very well be responsible for cutting it in half yourself and dooming everyone else to the shortened version on that server until Leo uploads another copy.
24 July 2006
02:02 by Ronc.
Constricted Starband User: You may be right, but since the problem was fixed within a few hours, I like to think I may have saved many people from downloading the incomplete file by bringing it to their attention! Also Leo and Steve said they have been well aware of the “download while uploading” problem for some time.To quote Leo from SN #48:
“The way I do it is upload it to a hidden folder so that people can’t download a partial. And then I copy it from the hidden folder to the visible folder. And presumably that copy happens so quickly, or quickly enough, that nobody is able to kind of start to download a small partial version…”
For the Dell monitors, I know a few people who had dead/stuck pixels on their monitors and all they had to do was call Dell for a replacement at no charge.
Kent,
With a 233Mhz processor, you need a hardware DVD decoder and I don’t think they made them for laptops. Even if they did, it’d have to be soldered onto the motherboard at the time of manufacture. Your processor isn’t fast enough and laptops are cheap nowadays. If you want DVD playback, buy a new or newer laptop.
AJ, thank you far saying that the master/slave terminology isn’t inherently racist. (It’s confusing to use primary and secondary for drives on an IDE chain when it’s also used to describe IDE chains.) I’m sure that everyone (even I), a white man with mixed ancestry (Irish, Gypsy, etc) come from ancestors who were slaves. The inherent evil is slavery itself, not the word slave.
In response to not being able to connect to a wireless network, I’ve been having the same symptoms. After doing a bit of research I found it may be a firewall issue. I have a Dell laptop which came with Trend Micro Internet Security 12. There is a built in firewall it uses. To get onto a wireless network: Go into the network settings tab, click on wi-fi detection, click on Find Connected Computers. When your connection appears simply click on Trust and you’ll be up and running.
25 July 2006
Regarding the Z-order question… as a vb programmer, I can say that occasionally the window position goes totally zonkie. I’ve had window placements come up millions of twips (like pixels but used in vb to position) to the left (minus twips) or right of the point of origin. I have NO explanation why this happens. However, I write a window position checker that fires off every time a form is loaded. It verifies that the entire window is within the screen when the form loads. Even if it’s moved off screen partially and then closed preciously.
Ok, so how does this affect Dave in NC? Well, I am very old school and write my window placements into an INI file but if you open a window, move the window and then close and re-open it and it opens at the last position you moved it to, then the program is keeping track of the window position. Look for an INI file in the home directory of the program or look through the registry for keys that are related to the program that indicate window positions. Set the frmTop and frmLeft to zero and the window should start appearing in the upper left. If this is a problem with programs you are writing, then in the form load sub procedure create code that checks for the screen.width and ensure that the frmLeft is not greater than the screen.width before loading. Same for screen.height and formTop.
Anyone else notice that Leo’s voice keeps dropping on the podcast?
Or is it just me?
26 July 2006
Mark from West Lake Village - Can’t get computers connected to Pre-N network
Make sure your SSID is unique and not the default that shiped with the wireless router. If it is, it could very much be the same as your neighboors and confusing the heck out of your client cards.
Susan from Longmont, CO - Computer rebooting on its own
If it allways reboots no mater what you do, then it could be a defective power supply. If you decide to change it, get a good one. A defective power supply can damage alot more parts when it dies.
29 July 2006
Question: It being dangerous to click on link in email…is it equally dangerous to copy & paste it into your browser…or is it safe.
Same exact level of danger except, it is a chance to look more closely at the url and notice if something isn’t QUITE right and not send.
What happened to today’s stream, 0729/06
31 July 2006
It sounds like there was a good bit of audio clipping as The Leo spoke in the podcast. i subscribe to the ITunes podcast. Even when the liners from the station were played they clipped a bit. Are you running your local board a little too hot Leo? Over the past couple of shows I have noticed this continuing here and there and especially in the latter part of show 268 there has been quite a bit of audio clipping going on when The Leo speaketh.
01 August 2006
I agree that using Primary/Secondary can be confused with the IDE channels. If we eliminated all the words that offended someone, we’d probably be down to just “ “
