DISQUS

I have to start tagging my other rants!

A media-centric Netflix box makes lots of sense. Adding 'features' like web browing and email would only cause support problems. The Roku box sounds like a lean, mean media server that is bonded to Netflix services.

The MacBook Air doesn't compare to anything on Wired's list of Apple's 8 worst products.

Yes, I'm using the real recaptcha. It doesn't translate books from other languages into English, though. This captcha does quality control on OCR scans of English language books. Recaptcha's developers have more info at this link.

MacBook Air looks and sounds more like a fashion accessory than a reliable computer. It's pretty, not practical. Perhaps Apple will sell a pink model later this year.

Apple and China Mobile have broken off their talks re: the iPhone.

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/01/14/chinas...

I've reset all of the RSS feeds. I use Feedburner.com to manage my RSS feeds, and I'm guessing that Outlook 2007 own't play nice with one or more Feedburner features.

Users can also try the following feed if they have problems: http://billso.com/feed

The bill that I mentioned above has passed out of committee and is going to the US House floor. Debate may be delayed until 2008, however. (Chronicle of Higher Education)

Our Internet and VoIP services have been restored.

Microsoft may release an XO-capable version of Windows XP in a few months, after spending a "non-trivial" amount of resources and time on the project. (Reuters)

That is one of my favorite clips. It's also an excellent lesson on "fair use"– the doctrine that is often cited when reviewers, bloggers, students, faculty and others post, publish, or use small portions of copyrighted material.

The video was assembled by Bucknell professor Eric Faden for his courses.

The video is 10 minutes long, but it's worth the time. After all, "this is about" "money". (BoingBoing, AssortedStuff.com)

Stanford University has a downloadable version of the video.

You get what you pay for, and "free" bandwidth in this case might be no better than dial-up speeds.

I'm not sure why the City & County of Honolulu is offering WiFi to first responders. I hope there's a clear set of reasons and appropriate security measures.

I would like to know what encryption and privacy measures are being used on the Tri-Net system. I might walk down the mall to Fisher Hawaii and see what my MacBook tells me.

WEP is not an appropriate encryption method. It's far too easy to crack.

Of course, I can find a few dozen WiFi access points from my office window. Most of these are unencrypted, and some use the default SSID provided by the router manufacturer.

Nor is it appropriate for Tri-Net to snoop the network traffic for marketing or other purposes.

Google has posted their WiFi network privacy policy here.

It would be interesting to compare the Google policy to the C&C;'s policy.

Interesting news, that is. Students seem more likely to use prepaid or non-tier 1 mobile than the average population, so one would assume that Rave would support these carriers. Wonder why they're not?

Good comment!

As long as no one is posting or sharing analyses of the companies in our assignments, I'm happy to see comments like this.

Feel free to discuss and post follow-ups about Skype.

IM voice chat isn't a full-on substitute for Skype, as there are several WiFi portable devices and phones that can handle a Skype call without a computer.

There might be some mobile devices can handle an IM voice chat, but I just can't remember if there are. Feel free to Google and post!

Personally, I think eBay management made several poor assumptions when they made the Skype deal. The most thorough due diligence process cannot reduce the risk of bad assumptions.

Good points there... if the lights do go out, the cell phone towers won't last very long. We learned that last October 15 after the earthquake. Users need to understand their place in the plan, and the plan should be viable even when electricity and bandwidth aren't available.

Yarrrrr, the Fort Street Pulse has this dread day covered.

http://www.fortstreetpulse.com/the-pulse/ahoy-warriors-of-the-sea-tday-be-international-talk-lika-pirate-day/

Governor Lingle and members of her cabinet toured the Superferry today.

http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news/13709483/detail.html

I've added dedicated RSS feeds for my IS 6100 and IS 7010 courses. See http://billso.com/2007/07/03/rss-course-feeds/ for more details.

The tag cloud is now located at http://billso.com/tagcloud</p>

The Yahoo story has expired. I've found a copy here. That story included another link to the Akamai charts.

No iPhone for Vermont, either! (Barre Montpelier Times Argus,
BoingBoing)