Interesting links and notes on updates to my main website.



[to search, use Blogger search in top bar]

If you combined one of those $100 "display photos on TV" things with the $300
7" Active Matrix TFT screen from RadioShack, you'd have a nice digital photo frame for $400. posted by Richard at 22:04 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

I can think of four options for remote audio e.g. in your house.
- 802.11 audio/media devices (from transmitters up to and including full stereos, DVD players etc)
- 900MHz/2.4GHz audio/video retransmitters, also variants e.g. HomeRF (including wireless speakers)
- FM frequency retransmitters
- Ethernet audio plus a wireless converter

This is what I was able to put together about wireless (802.11) audio/video.
I'm sure there was a good review somewhere but I've lost it.

The most popular model in geekland is the Slim series

http://www.slimdevices.com/

others include

UPDATE 2004-06-10: see also AirTunes

UPDATE 2004-12-19: ViewSonic has a number of products, including a "media gateway" with built-in 80GB or 120GB hard drive.
Wireless Media Gateway WMG80
Wireless Media Adapter WMA100

http://www.prismiq.com/ (looks like this comes with Ethernet and a PCMCIA slot for wireless)

http://www.cd3o.com/

HP Digital Media Receiver

Linksys Wireless-B Media Link for Music (WML11B)

Linksys DVD Player with Wireless-G Media Link (WMLD54G)

SMC Digital Media Receivers

Creative SoundBlaster Wireless

DLink DSM-320 Wireless Media Player

Netgear MP101 Wireless Digital Music Player

Philips has a whole family of products called Streamium

GlooLabs HomePod

GoVideo D2730 Networked DVD (comes with PCMCIA Ethernet, need to replace with PCMCIA 802.11b card)

Pinnacle ShowCenter (need to purchase the model with the PCMCIA wireless card, or buy the wireless card separately)

Roku SoundBridge (requires CompactFlash wireless adapter - or you could use external bridge)

Amazon.com Amoisonic NPD-9200 Net-Play Progressive Scan DVD

I finally found a good list
http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/archives/streaming_media_devices.php

Slashdot
Homegrown Wireless Media Servers?
The Real Scoop On Philips' Streamium

More reviews

DesignTechnica
Slim Devices Squeezebox

Hub Canada Digital audio hardware for home and the road

PC Magazine
HP Digital Media Receiver ew5000
Entertainment Central May 18, 2004 reviews several different systems

ExtremeTech Low-Cost Home Media Client Shoot-Out

Globe reviews
Prismiq MediaPlayer
Linksys Wireless-B Media Adapter
Slim Devices Squeezebox
Amoisonic Net DVD Player

ZDNet
How to beam audio--and video--around your house also has useful info in the comments section.
Amoisonic Netplay NDP9200

Tom's Hardware Home Broadcast Studio: Multimedia Network Players

CNet Gateway Connected DVD Player with Wireless 802.11b Card
CNet (ATT) Review: Slim Devices Squeezebox (wireless)
Wireless DARs (Digital Audio Receivers)

GeekExtreme iRock BeamIt 400FM

Here's some info about the wired Ethernet + wireless converter option

Turtle Beach AudioTron
Hauppauge MediaMVP Digital Media Receiver
Roku HD1000 High-Definition Digital Media Player

UPDATE 2004-08-02: Elgato makes a player called EyeHome for the Mac, it does audio, video, photos. Intended for use with a TV.

Ethernet-to-wireless (802.11) bridges

LinkSys WET11
LinkSys WET54G
DLink DWL-810
NetGear ME101

Here are some 900MHz/2.4GHz/HomeRF options

RCA Lyra Wireless (not 802.11, uses 900 MHz band)

Motorola Simplefi Wireless Digital Audio Receiver (HomeRF)

FM

iRock 400FM BeamIt

UPDATE 2004-06-10: Sonos makes a wireless product but doesn't provide details of how it works. posted by Richard at 16:40 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

The Star reviews The picture on digital [photo printing in Canada]
Covers PhotoLab.ca, Wal-Mart (ewww), Japan Cam, Future Photo (FutureShop), and Black's.

Added to Reviews section of my Digital Photo Sharing and Printing page. posted by Richard at 10:01 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Reminder, the deadline approaches.

The 8% PST rebate is available for the following ENERGY STAR-qualified appliances purchased on or after November 26, 2002 (on or after January1, 2003, in the case of freezers), and on or before March 31, 2004.

Ontario Ministry of Energy :: PST Rebate Information

Ontario also offers a Retail Sales Tax Rebate for Solar Energy Systems.

The GoC lists some but not all of the Incentives and Rebates.

The main one I didn't see is the Rebate for Hybrid Electric Vehicles.

(I have mentioned some of these rebates before.)

The Canadian government wants you to lose a tonne. posted by Richard at 08:43 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Common Errors in English. Probably via GS. posted by Richard at 21:32 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Time for questions

Why didn't you respond to the al-Qaeda attack on the U.S.S. Cole? The attack occurred on Oct. 12, 2000; 17 American sailors were killed. The Clinton Administration wanted to declare war on al-Qaeda. An aggressive military response was prepared, including special-forces attacks on al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. But Clinton decided that it was inappropriate to take such dramatic action during the transition to the Bush presidency. As first reported in this magazine in 2002, Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and counterterrorism deputy Richard Clarke presented their plan to Condoleezza Rice and her staff in the first week of January 2001.

Berger believed al-Qaeda was the greatest threat facing the U.S. as Clinton left office. Rice thought China was. What were President Bush's priorities? Was he aware of the Berger briefing? Did he consider an aggressive response to the bombing of the Cole or to the al-Qaeda millennium plot directed at Los Angeles International Airport—which was foiled on Dec. 14, 1999? Did he have any al-Qaeda strategy at all?

from Bush and 9/11: What We Need to Know. Via SE I think. posted by Richard at 21:25 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Coke manages to screw up... water.
Ah, it is a heady industrial age we live in.

Coca-Cola's special water source is a tap in Sidcup

Coca-Cola's Dasani: Bromides and Bromate

Shortly after the controversy in Britain about Dasani being tap water, Coca-Cola has withdrawn Dasani from Great Britain because it contained a carcinogen, bromate. The levels exceeded the levels permitted in Great Britain.

The Onion has an article this week "Coke-Sponsored Rover Finds Evidence Of Dasani On Mars". There doesn't seem to be any way to link to it directly. posted by Richard at 21:08 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

The world of waste.

We have a strange situation in North America.
We have these giant bathrooms,
but we put all our waste disposal in them.

A bathroom really should have a bathtub, sink, shower and bidet.
We never have bidets.

http://www.caromausa.com/products/bidets.htm

The WC room should have a toilet and a urinal. We never have urinals.
If you want to save water, you should go for the dual-flush toilet plus a low-water or waterless urinal.

Caroma has several dual-flush models.
Other models include the Toto Drake,
the Niagara Flapperless (which I'm not clear that is really a dual-flush), and the
Western Pottery Aris.

(You can also, for reasons that are unclear to me, get Toto Clothing.)

The City of Toronto has City-selected toilets.

Participants in the Toilet Replacement Program must choose from the ... list of toilets to receive an incentive of $60 for a single-flush (6-litre) toilet or $75 for a dual-flush (choice of 6 litre/3 litre flush) toilet.

There is a site Selecting an Ultra Low Flush Toilet (ULFT).

The coolest urinal design was the Mister Miser. It was unfortunately I think only in plastic, but in any case, it had a simple flip-out, in-wall design, so it took up basically zero space. It's not clear if they're made anymore. Here's a picture



From Water and Sewage Report.

Basically you close it when it's not in use, and people won't even know what it is.
All other designs seem to be these huge hulking units.

Some other models are:
http://www.waterless.com/
Caroma Leda
http://www.sloanvalve.com/new/waterfree/waterfreeindex.htm (featuring odd new-age background music)
http://www.falconwaterfree.com/ is apparently partnered with Sloan Valve.

Labels: renovation, urinal, wc

posted by Richard at 19:13 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Photolab.ca Win 500 free prints posted by Richard at 19:03 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Legitimate Music Downloads

Via TaoSecurity indirectly.

Also All Of MP3 is supposed to be good.

What I'm thinking about suggests Audio Lunch Box and Open Music Registry.

Museekster reviews a number of sites.

BBSpot Reviews: Digital Music Stores

WebListen

UPDATE 2004-03-28: I have done a much-needed update to my Downloading Music in Canada page. posted by Richard at 13:00 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

EDUCAUSE Effective Security Practices Guide

Via D-Lib magazine February 2004 edition. posted by Richard at 12:31 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Since you may not know of this tool, and because Microsoft has relocated it to a new URL

MBSA - Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer posted by Richard at 10:28 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Geek out in Ottawa

BSD Can 2004 The Technical BSD Conference
May 13-16, 2004

USENIX Linux Kernel 2004 July 19-20 followed by
2004 Linux Symposium
July 21-24, 2004

It's possible that the Kernel event is invitation-only. posted by Richard at 10:09 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

In a Slashdot thread about avoiding traffic, the following koan was provided:

Remember, you are not in a traffic jam, you are the traffic jam. posted by Richard at 07:33 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

When I grow up, I want to go to Beagle.U
It also opens a backdoor on TCP port 4751.

Port 4751 is not currently assigned for anything. posted by Richard at 07:28 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

I don't know about "new enemy", but anyway

Bush's brand new enemy is the truth. Via SE.

One of the first official acts of the current Bush administration was to downgrade the office of national coordinator for counterterrorism on the National Security Council - a position held by Richard Clarke. Clarke had served in the Pentagon and State Department under presidents Reagan and Bush the elder, and was the first person to hold the counterterrorism job created by President Clinton. Under Clinton, he was elevated to cabinet rank, which gave him a seat at the principals' meeting, the highest decision-making group for national security.

By removing Clarke from the table, Bush put him in a box where he could speak only when spoken to. No longer would his memos go to the president; instead, they had to pass though a chain of command of national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and her deputy, Stephen Hadley, who bounced each of them back.

Terrorism was a Clinton issue: "soft" and obscure, having something to do with "globalisation", and other trends ridiculed from the Republican party platform. "In January 2001 the new administration really thought Clinton's recommendation that eliminating al-Qaida be one of their highest priorities, well, rather odd, like so many of the Clinton administration's actions, from their perspective," Clarke writes in his new book, Against All Enemies. When Clarke first met Rice and immediately raised the question of dealing with al-Qaida, she "gave me the impression she had never heard the term before".

posted by Richard at 02:37 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Incidentally, as I mentioned before, my Drake Equation theory on "where are they?" is that there aren't any aliens because we are all in a simulation; I am a simulationist.

Personally I break it down into three main possibilities:
1. Intelligent, tool-using, exploratory life is so improbable that we are the only one.
You can add 1a. "tends to self-destruct before getting out of solar system" but I don't think you even need to go that far
2. Interdict hypothesis. Much more Star Trek fun but I think extremely improbable.
3. Once people/aliens have big enough computers, which takes let's say 50,000 years, most interesting things happen in simulations. Because amongst other things, space travel takes forever. Since 50,000 years is much shorter than universe time spans of billions of years, it's most likely that you're already in a simulation rather than being in the actual universe.

I don't remember if it was this Slashdot report that convinced me to become a simulationist, but it certainly helped. posted by Richard at 02:17 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

I should probably do a better job of updating my book reviews. Unfortunately, it is one of those negative-reinforcement things. I never get any feedback about them, which doesn't exactly encourage me to write. posted by Richard at 02:04 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Lectio.ca writes

Thanks, you guys! Nice to know I'm not the only one who gets excited about the Drake Equation.

Swoon. posted by Richard at 02:03 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

In today's winning spam, "Embezzling C. Passageway" informs me "Super offers for meedication only here." posted by Richard at 02:01 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Lessig's new book Free Culture is a free download.

Via Darren Barefoot. posted by Richard at 16:11 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Double rate hike due for Ontarians. Via OCIPEP Daily Briefing.

Toronto — Ontarians can expect to pay more for natural gas and electricity next week following a double-barreled rate hike approved by the Ontario Energy Board.

Good. posted by Richard at 16:09 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Black Viper's Windows 2000 service configuration guide.

Seen in Slashdot thread Data Security on Windows Machines? posted by Richard at 09:29 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Amazon.com Free Music Downloads

I downloaded "New Favorite" by Alison Krauss. posted by Richard at 16:42 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Show Us Your Canada Photo Contest posted by Richard at 16:38 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

So I got a new BEFSX41 to monitor the network.
And it was sort of working, but the logs were wonky.
I think it wasn't getting NTP time.
The latest firmware is 1.50.9 but it is a major change. Completely new interface and WallWatcher is unable to get the logs from it.

I have changed to firmware 1.45.7, so far so good. posted by Richard at 12:19 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

I finished The Map That Changed The World. It was good. posted by Richard at 06:56 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

What does the future of Windows security look like?
Apparently it looks like this.

Hands-On Preview: Windows XP Service Pack 2 Release Candidate 1 posted by Richard at 13:37 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

SOHO Firewalls For Enterprise Access posted by Richard at 13:35 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

StaplesPhoto.ca appears to be finally operational,
after taking a while to get linked from Staples.ca
and then having some Microsoft database problems.
I was eventually able to sign up.

Unfortunately the way they have it set up, you don't see most of the links until you log in.

http://www.staplesphoto.ca/pricing.asp

0.29 4x6", 3.95 8x10", maximum 7.99 11x14"
all glossy only

browser-based upload, 10 images at a time
I don't get this. No uploader? You want me to use your service and I have to browse individually to 10 photos at a time?

I have updated my Table of Digital Photo Printing Services available in Canada. posted by Richard at 07:17 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

[Canadian] IT security resource to foster cyber threat disclosure

The Cyber Security Resource Centre (CSRC) is designed to foster best practices and encourage Canadian business and government organizations to openly report and share information on cyber incidents (IT security breaches, viruses, worms, etc) to the larger IT community.

...

The CSRC is a component of CATA Homeland Security Task Force, designed to enhance homeland security by characterizing threats to Canada's information infrastructure. Reid noted the resource should be particularly beneficial to small companies that don't have large engineering teams. CATA also announced the launch of the CATA CanCERT Alliance, which will support the organization as a third party for groups to anonymously share information on cyber-incidents.

I hate this stupid "homeland" thing.
If you want to protect Canada, how about saying CATA Canadian Security Task Force?

In any case,
http://www.cata.ca/HomelandSecurity/
http://www.cata.ca/Resource_Centres/CyberSecurity.html
posted by Richard at 13:11 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

If you've read Al Franken's book, you know the accusation goes like this:
Clinton had a plan for attacking Al Qaeda. But it was ready in Dec 1999.
Bush took the plan and the issue, and launched: Operation Ignore.
Where they did nothing about terrorism, month after month.

Richard Clarke was the White House lead on terrorism.
Under Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, and in his new book, he slams Bush 2 for being obsessed with Iraq and ignoring the real terrorist threats, both before and after 2001-09-11. posted by Richard at 21:24 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

The enemy from within.
They seemed normal but plotted to kill thousands.
Via SE. posted by Richard at 09:20 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Today's winning spam is "Enjoy More Money A carnage ellipse backlash" from "Darla Norwood". posted by Richard at 08:53 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)