Kilo Seven

A long read, but a worthy one, is this discussion and evasion of issues behind global 'warming' data . Enjoy and be horrified at how the books have been cooked by the Very Political Scientists in the Global Warming Industrial Complex.

This is rich. A programmer's blog illustrates how to use Linux to protect you from Windows viruses by running your Windows programs in the Linux Windows emulator, 'Wine', and how easy it is to kill a virus in Wine. It also shows how Firefox warns you three times before the virus gets into your system from Facebook. You want computing safety? Use Firefox and Linux.

A very clear technical explanation from a Microsoft expert explains why Vista freezes . Solution: Only run one app at a time, buy Windows Seven, or upgrade to Ubuntu 9 .

Oh, this is so slick. A freeware site I track explains how you can use freeware to control your Windows PC or Mac by posting tweets.

This Ziff-Davis/CBS article suggests using a Linux Live CD for online banking and shopping . UPDATE: So does the Washington Post computing columnist . Why? Even the director of the FBI almost fell for a phishing scheme, and if he can be had, so can you. Linux Live CDs boot your computer with the free, much-more-secure Linux operating system, and look very much like Windows. However, you don't have access to your hard drive, so viruses and spyware can't take hold in your system. If you want to save data, you can save it to a USB 'thumbdrive' flash memory device you can take with you, and the article discussing saving passwords on a flash drive in a locked, encrypted file. It's really easy to download from kubuntu.com and 'burn' Linux to a blank CD-R, have one mailed to you, or you can skip that and buy a disc at FreeGeek at 1731 SE 10th , east of Union behind the Goodwill store. Their Thrift Store sells discs for a buck, 11 AM - 7PM, Tuesday - Saturday. H...

Gotta Sidekick? BACK IT UP NOW. BY HAND. There are still folks out there who don't know their Sidekick smartphone data is toast if they let their battery run down or if they do a reset (a typical problem solving procedure for Sidekicks). Here's a block diagram of the Sidekick system as originally designed: And, after your data's protection was outsourced to Elbonia: Daniel Eran Dilger has the most complete explanation of this sorry Redmondic debacle whereby Sidekick users lost data Microsoft should have protected, if their word was worth anything: Microsoft's takeover of Danger (creator of the Sidekick - ed. comment) almost two years ago should have given the software giant the time to fortify and secure Danger's online operations. Instead, it appears the company actually removed support to cut costs. According to a source familiar with Danger before and after the Microsoft acquisition , T-Mobile's close partnership with the original Danger was leveraged and...

New 'secure' passports with Radio Frequency ID (RFID) chips are anything but , and can be hacked with cheap off-the-shelf gear. Experts warned this little bit of Security Theater was dangerous , and now Linux Insider reports on how leaky these passports are . Even cheaper tech was used in Washington, Vermont, Michigan, New York, Texas and Arizona new ' enhanced ' driver's licenses, which offer no protection at all . If you've got one of those new IDs, get a shielded wallet .

http://twitter.com/wootoff tracks all the marvelous stuff that was sold already, but you have to go to Woot.com to buy, still.

Here's a DIY project which uses your old analog TV as a display for a Linux computer . That ultra-micro-computer, the YBox2, is a $75 kit that fits in an Altoids tin box and runs 'widgets'; those widgets show you one thing on the net that changes frequently you want to track (Weather, a particular Twitter feed) or do one job (alarm clock with atomic-clock accuracy).

Zero to sixty gigawatts in four milliseconds = one nasty explosion . And, it happened only 644 miles away from River City , over in Arco, Idaho, in 1960. That wasn't the first meltdown; that happened in California , 30 miles from LA , the year before. And, it wasn't certainly wasn't the first atomic fatality; discounting acts of war, there was the Manhattan Project criticality accident in 1945, X-ray and radium fatalities, and other deaths unknowingly caused by natural radioactives (not to mention the growing body of evidence of a series of dirty bomb tests on concentration camp victims and POWs in Thuringia, or the recently revealed Japanese A-bomb project , near the uranium mines near Chosen in ten-Japanese-occupied North Korea, according to the History Channel . The leading theory is the SL-1 explosion was caused by a fatal atomic love triangle; the jilted husband yanked out the control rod running the reactor less than 20" , and in less than a second, his...

Here's a web page, ToxicRisk.com which shows major toxic material producers, cross-referenced to school locations, through a Google Maps mash-up. I've got it set for the 97267 zip code; enter your own in the box at lower left if you're not in Baja Milwaukie.

An LA Times story on the invention of SMS nicely complements a NY Times explanation of how massively profitable SMS is for wireless carriers .

This blog post shows you what Vista is really thinking as it boots. Hilarious. Here's a snippet. Starting up… I’m still tired as heck here, so don’t even think about keeping me up too long. Hmm… you want me to work? Don’t think so. Let’s have some fun. Wrong password. Wrong password. Wrong password. He, he. Just kidding. You typed the right one three times. Phoning home to Redmond…

The esteemed Senator Feinstein of California has been hornswoggled into cramming an incredible burden to ISPs into the latest economic recovery package . Click on the link to read about this incredible waste of resources, and for a connection to call key senators to tell them, No Way.

Looks like the high-efficiency solar cells which forecasters have planned on require rare metals we'll run out of in about ten years . And, the best substitute expected, carbon nanofiber, is shown by two independent studies to pose a health risk similar to asbestos , as per a linked Seattle P-I story. Eek. This only emphasizes the need for more basic research, not less, in energy generation of all kinds, such as these nuke-sized solar power fields ( Link 1 , Link2 ) which California's PG&E is studying. These sunpower fields use an array of tracking solar dishes powering Stirling engines which work with any concentrated heat source . Gee, doesn't Oregon get a lot of constant sunshine east of the Cascades? Hmm... the 'golden triangle' of lower Malheur and Harney counties (see map, above, with marker at Baker City), including the hamlet of Fields , with its apex near Alvold Lake , gets at least 4.5 kilowatt-hours per square meter per hour, even in January, which...

The local rep for the LCCR for DTV issues passed on the news today that all Portland stations are postponing their transition from full-power analog to full-power digital until June. That's the good news, sort of, and is a full one-eighty-degree reversal from last week's news , confirming what an O-blogger said earlier today . Less good news? Well, This will cost some TV stations more, for those TV stations who leased a temporary DTV transmitter, as they have to lease the temporary gear longer. TV stations are already hurtin' because advertising's down; this will hurt more. All stations will be paying more for power in the four months until the delayed cutover date, as DTV is more power-efficient. The companies who bought rights to the spectrum which cutover would release will probably demand a rebate from the feds, and the feds will probably give it to them; Their new services, which would deliver more digital services to sell, won't be generating revenue while Po...

Comment number two is worth a chuckle. Enjoy.

the Star Trek Communicator VOIP/Skype handset.

TVFool.Com provides you with a way to aim your UHF antenna, an estimate of how much antenna you probably will need to get good reception (see this example) based on your address and height, and how many stations you will be able to receive with that new antenna with DTV. News you can use, right?

There will be no ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, or PBS transmitted in analog signal in Portland/Vancouver, as of noon on Tuesday, 17 February. None. The Washington Post reports the Congress is still divided on postponing television's conversion to digital; but that is not important to Portlanders, for all major network stations are going ahead with the digital conversion in 15 days.  All those stations already have digital transmitters up on the air. See these earlier blog posts for the frequencies: tinyURL.com/dtv-pdx List of old vs. new Portland area channels and flowchart showing what to do. tinyURL.com/dtv-qanda Q&A on DTV conversion. tinyURL.com/dtv-ready How to tell if your TV set is digital-ready. A TV station engineer and volunteer radio operator (the two often go side by side) in Eugene has written this technical discourse of why a better antenna's needed. Our gracious thanks to Carl Sundberg of KMTR who has allowed the reuse of his wisdom and experience to provide a lear...

Comcast is ever-vigilant in its search for ways to ensure, once you sign up, you never leave... this 'Hotel California' strategy now gives free WiFi for rail commuters in the NY/NJ/CT area , where a two-hour commute is not unheard-of.  Every dot on the map at left shows their coverage. They start at stations, and then expand along that route. 

This list shows more than six dozen free Open Source games ; PC, Linux, Mac OS.  Free, now. 

June 12th looks like the new deadline for DTV conversion, says the NASDAQ newswire. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Rockefeller, D-W.V., and committee ranking Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas said their staffs are drafting a few changes to Rockefeller's proposal to postpone the digital switch until June 12. {snip} In the House, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has introduced his own bill that would put off the digital TV transition until June 12. Waxman's bill also would extend the expiration date for all outstanding or not-yet-issued converter box coupons to Sept. 15. People who previously ordered coupons and didn't redeem them would be allowed to reapply.{snip}

Having worked with the FCC during the FIRST conversion to DTV (Hawaii), here are a few background things you SHOULD KNOW since they'll help you answer questions from the other 49 states. 1.  The conversion was mandated by CONGRESS to free up the present analog TV spectrum for OTHER USERS.  (follow the money). 2. The conversion was DIRECTED by CONGRESS. 3. The $40 coupon program was run by the former Bureau of Standards now NIST. 4. The FCC was ordered to deal with the public and broadcasters during the conversion. 5. For those who can receive it THE DIGITAL PICTURE IS BETTER. 6. The transmitting antennas are moved OUT OF CONGESTED (populated) areas where they never belonged!  From the tops of buildings to outlying less populated areas. Ed. note: That applies to Hawaii only. 7. Many antennas are in WORSE COVERAGE locations because (for example) protected birds ran into them in the old locations.  (reason for moving the tower and antenna from 10,000 ft on Maui to 4,000 ft) Ed. note: ...

Clearwire AKA ' Clear ' opened up Metro Portland as its second city where individuals and businesses can get high speed wireless internet via WiMAX at reasonable cost, and after a cost analysis, we took the plunge. The home service pricing below includes $5/mo to rent a Motorola 2.5GHz WiMAX transceiver. You can buy instead of rent, but since hardware gets cheaper, we figured we'd rent at first... besides, if there's a failure, they're responsible for the transceiver if they own it. $25/mo provides up to 768 kbps down, 128 kbps up. $35/mo provides up to 3,000 kbps down, 384 kbps up. $35/mo provides up to 6,000 kbps down, 512 kbps up. There's no $35 sign-up fee if you obligate for 2 years of service instead of month-to-month, and there's a seven day 'remorse' period for cancellation. There's also mobile service and business service, both spendier than home service. The hookup took 5 minutes; plug in power, let it find the signal (two tower...

I reported earlier on the ability on anyone who dislikes you to shut down your Series 60 Nokia phone . If they have your cellular number and adequate dislike, they can turn your cellphone into an expensive, silent brick. The Register, with their customary evenhanded (i.e., snarky to everyone) has revealed more details including how to resent your phone after an attack. Since that requires erasing everything in your phone memory, backing up daily is recommended. You can back up to a memory card in your phone, or to a PC, but please, BACK UP YOUR DATA.

Update: Easy-to-remember Tiny URLs have been created to make it easy to remember web addresses for this series. tinyURL.com/dtv-pdx Flowchart of what to do and list of old vs. new Portland area channels. tinyURL.com/dtv-qanda Questions and Answers about DTV and the conversion. tinyURL.com/dtv-ready This post. This National Association of Broadcasters web page allows you to enter the make and model of your TV set to find if it's digital-ready. And, OBTW, it's official; the Feds have run out of converter coupons, says the NY Times . Yesterday's blog post reviewing the less-spendy converter boxes seems to have been a good idea. Don't overlook post Number One on the Tele-Apocalypse which gives you a very simple flowchart to show what to do.

Update: Easy-to-remember Tiny URLs have been created for articles in this series. tinyURL.com/dtv-pdx Flowchart of what to do (if anything) and list of old vs. new Portland area channels. tinyURL.com/dtv-qanda This post. tinyURL.com/dtv-ready How to tell if your TV set is digital-ready. Update #2: Added link to detailed converter reviews  at  http://dtvconverterboxes.blogspot.com/ Q: I need an explanation in another language. Where can I find that? A: https://www.dtv2009.gov/ Q: When does conversion happen? A: It happens Tuesday, February 17th, by Federal law. A town in North Carolina has already converted; Hawaii converts on January 15th. Q: Why? A: Digital channels can fit closer together without interfering, so the Federal government can sell the old frequencies to use for police, fire, public service, and new cellular data services. Sometimes, reception quality improves even on older analog-only sets using converters. There are other advantages to television stations; they can ...

Executive summary? Significant threat. Back up your phone daily. If the DOS attack is successful, recovery requires a total reset which means you lose everything in phone memory. If strange messages start appearing with the @ symbol in them, shut off your phone or go into airline mode (no cellular reception). Backup to memory card, delete the strange messages and then backup to memory card again. Stay tuned for news of a patch from Symbian. The gory details are here at FierceMobileIT .