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Tech Stories Archives - February 2010
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1.
Need a different sort of job karma
Well, I have an opportunity in front of me to change jobs. I feel like I know a little bit less about the technology in the potential job than I do in my current one, but that always seems to be the case before I actually start the job. The kicker here is that the potential new job would more than double my current salary (and I could really use the money). I know I can do it. Or, at least, if I can't right away, then I know I can relearn the things I once knew that are required of this job. So in the place of karma, I was wondering if everyone could just submit links to some good educational material so that I can brush up on my Linux Administration. Thanks in advance to everyone.[By: YourLastHope / 2010-02-01]
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Try this for starters: http://www.linux.org/lessons/ -Stryker One
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2.
Everything happening at once
Ever feel like a lot of things are happening all at once? I've been looking for a new job since last November. My parents ask me to contact someone regarding a job they heard about. I did, and they emailed me early January to say "thanks for sending us your resume but we're shut down for the holidays and people are away". They called me back last Friday to ask if I was still interested. The caveat? It starts on 6-month contract. I called them back yesterday to say I'm still interested and they said their agent will get back to me. The positive is I've heard from a number of people this place is a great place to work for and I'll get at least a 30% (possibly 50%) more pay than where I am now. Also the place is closer to home and to where I'm planning on moving. And here's the part two. We went to a mortgage broker to see what we could afford. We want to move out of my apartment and move into a house because with the three of us and our (mostly my) stuff. Now we've decided to sell the unit to finance the purchase. We thought about keeping the unit as rental investment, but thought it would be too hard and stressful. We've seen a place we think is good for us: 4 bedrooms, end of quiet cul-de-sac street, not far from where we are, and close to my potential new work (certainly cycling if not walking). With all this karma being passed around, some must have splashed my way. New house, new job, and new mortgage. If there's any more karma available, please keep sending it this way.[By: Wraith556 / 2010-02-01]
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Keep an eye out for that other shoe. -Stryker One
With all that stuff in there, it was cramped. But now most of it has been put into a self-storage locker, the flat is now quite roomy. -Wraith556
Contract to full time is not a future guarantee (if that is not obvious). Sounds like you are putting the cart before the horse. Karma your way but be careful. - merlot1959
merlot, I know it is a gamble, but from my side I have a 3 hour daily commute, my salary has not changed in 3 years (not even CPI increases which means an effective 10% pay cut, and in the same time frame even $hitty programming limited, my worst employer, had increased my salary by over 30%), we're on reduced hours for a 10% pay cut, my lunch break is repeatedly sacrificed to appease customers and those answering the phone, and finally essential equipment requests (like cheap 1T HDs) are repeatedly ignored making it impossible to perform testing that is required to solve cases. -Wraith556
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3.
Murphy Explained
This explains so much. http://ioannis.virtualcomposer2000.com/writing/NewMurphysLaws.html [By: Stryker One
/ 2010-02-01 ]
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It certainly explains blindness. Lime green on black, really? That's so...so...Geocities. -ChasingPuck
Type O Negative has been able to make that work for years now. -AmazingKreskin
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5.
Military intelligence?
Took a call recently from an officer at a US military training facility here in the States whom I will refer to as Captain Know_it_All. We had recently done a service call on a desktop unit for said facility, swapping out some RAM sticks for your generic RAM no POST situation. So Captain Know_it_All called me afterwards, complaining at the top of his lungs about having to return those RAM sticks. Me: "So why do you not want to return those defective RAM sticks to us?" I explained to him that we had provided the return airbill included with the parts shipment for that purpose. Him: "Becuase they've got classified military information on them."
I attempted to explain to him that once RAM has been deprived of power, it doesn't have ANYTHING on it, let alone anything classified. I further explained to him that he was probably confusing memory with the hard drive (and if we had to replace a hard drive on a classified unit, of course we would not require parts return). The only problem was, Capt. Know_it_All was of course in charge of their IT department, and "knew" that he did not have to return the RAM because he "knew" that it contained classified information.
All efforts to get him to listen failed. Finally of course I told him he will need to return that memory, then transferred him to Mr. Dialtone. And these are the sorts of people protecting us... [By: tech4alltrades / 2010-02-01]
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next time, talk to the NCO in charge. We ran the shit, not the officers. They are paperhangers. -HappyCrappy
I think I had the same ID10t. Called in on a optical drive. Told him that he would have to return it, he said no. Ok off to care to buy it then. No biggie to me.I dont see why they have so much trouble with keep the hard drive.
Dosent say optical drive, ram or other devices. I even had one try to convince me the keep the hard drive coverage was a extended warranty for the hd. Nope, end of story. -docfl
Here we have several regulations according how computers have to be to not emit signals that can be read by foreign intelligence. We demonstrated to some military officers that the screen signals could be picked up and show what there was on it. One of them then replied that he will create a rule that no secret documents sere to be opened by any computer at all... Wonder how they were going to process all those classified documents... -Dr Jerkyl
"sere" = were -Dr Jerkyl
"Military Intelligence" = Oxymoron </HadToBeSaid> -lineswine
"Remember that kid. The one that ate the glue. He's the one behind the wheel of $5 million dollars now" http://verydemotivational.com/2010/01/28/demotivational-posters-army-of-one/ -docbrown01
Actually, RAM holds its contents for a longer time after being turned off than you may think. If you freeze it immediately, it can last several minutes. I just read an article on this a couple weeks ago; wish I could remember where (it was probably an ACM or IEEE publication). Of course, it isn't 100% readable, but it's readable enough to constitute a security risk. -rdwells
all the classified 0 bits are still there -stiffarm
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7.
Back to Basics
It's been a long time since I've posted, and I've been out of direct customer support for a while as well, but having been with the same company for a decade, people still come back to me for help when they have no clue what to try next. Those folks come to me when they know it's a really bad situation, and I've grown accustomed to expecting the techs to have tried everything before calling me. A customer calls Saturday with a down server showing a failed drive and unable to boot. The server is running RAID 1, so we're confused as to why it won't boot on the second drive which shows as being online. I suggested a few things to the tech and he kept calling me back with negative responses. Eventually I suggested he call Dell Support to determine if the RAID controller was having an issue. Frankly, I'm not being paid for my time on the weekend and wasn't going to call the customer myself. So he calls Dell and can't get support because the ID10T on the other end doesn't provide a correct service tag. The customer has screamed to get a tech onsite over the weekend and nothing was done. Today we've had a different tech working with the customer and finally had a tech show up onsite. After working with the onsite tech and Dell Support, our tech (not the original tech) discovers a floppy in the diskette drive. Standard practice in ANY non-boot call is to check the floppy drive, and I'm used to these techs knowing better. This tech has been with the company since the mid-80s. So the question for you... which LART should we use?[By: CelticSkyhawk / 2010-02-01]
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All of them. -Tekkie
Wheel of LART, turn turn turn. Tell us which LART we should use! LART number 6: Otis! -Starfury
Change the boot order to: head, gut, nads, butt, teeth. -teivrann
I miss this place... thanks for the laughs, all, I needed that! -CelticSkyhawk
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8.
"NEED NEW MICE!"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/01/cruel_revenge/[By: r3tude / 2010-02-01]
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Says he demanded them be returned. If he wants them back, he should not have put them there in the first place! -KrazerKap
I can hear the defense argument now. "Your honor, she told my client "I WAAAANNNAAA NNNEEEEWWW MMOOOUUSSE!!!!" -MadJack
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9.
(sorta OT) Article
http://www.bynkii.com/archives/2010/01/stop_crashing_my_browser.html John C. Welch does it again. Tell Adobe "Stop Crashing My Browser"[By: Grayhawk
/ 2010-02-01 ]
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i hardly ever have problems with flash -drachen
There was this long, drawn out argument on Fark yesterday about Flash and HTML5. The main point of the "anti-flash" crowd is that it's horribly outdated. :shrug: -Seamus
The only time Flash has ever crashed my browser has been from poorly-written ActionScript... Usually my own. -MeanDean
I don't have adobe flash crash most of the time, it takes longer to load the page, I have to sit and wait for the windows to switch I have my computer fan turn on, honestly it used to work alright then they rectally inserted their heads. -Icelator
Must admit, of late, Flash HAS made Firefox's already abhorrent hoggishness even worse. OTOH, it DOES make for good motivation when encouraging someone to stop spending hours upon hours playing every game in existence on Facebook. -MadJack
I am in favor of shooting crappy programers, until they get the message.
The British Navy use to do this with their bad Admrials. After they started to win more and more sea battles. -Deadagent
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10.
What is data part two
In my last rave, I mentioned the fact that our school system sucks. Point in case is that they expect our children to use a computer to do their assignments and yet do not have MANDATORY classes to educate the children on HOW to use the computer. I had a nice conversation with my wife this morning. We talked about how we were educated. We learned the alphabet and numbers. We learned how to write above the line. We learned how to use a number 2 pencil. We learn how to use a pen. We learn script. Etc. Etc. Our teachers expected us to utilize these things as we continued through our torture called school. And so here I sit, printed my sons homework for his college computer introductory class. I read the questions and his answers. I refuse to tell him the answers. I just encourage him to actually READ THE BOOK! Here is a sample question: 1.Microsoft _____ is one of the most popular operating systems. - A) Access
- B) Word
- C) Windows
- D) All the above
His answer: D Need i rant more??? You know I will
Oh and welcome me to the land of stardom. It has been a long time since I became a star member. Someone paid for me the last time. This time I paid. I think I should just send Hawk a few thou and become a lifetime member. I can certainly use some help with my daughters BSOD problem! More on that in a future rant. [By: merlot1959 / 2010-02-02]
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Just so I have a point of reference here....how old is your son? -BarmanVarn
Barman - I'm guessing around 18 or so, given that it's for a COLLEGE introductory computer class. -Seamyst
Back in my day, we had to walk ten miles uphill in the snow barefoot just to use 1s and 0s. And somedays, we didn't even have 1s. We'd have to take a 0 and squeeze it on both sides. -MisterCommon
correct. He iis 18. -merlot1959
*winces* The System is failing on every level, it seems. -ThinTheHerd
Chances are, even the teachers don't know how to use a computer. When I went to get certified, the teacher we had for the C language got fired because he thought he was right and failed the entire class. -Biosynthetic
christ.. i was building system by 16!.. knew what data was at 5 ( sand was learning basic).. learned html at 15.. by 18 i was playing MMO's and FPS over a 56K modem and sneaking in to Dads home office to hook into the ISDN. had my OS on the bleeding edge of stability.. and I'm gonna be 30 this year! -Harm
This is from the kid that wanted to take graphic design as his major but then found out he has to take ART CLASSES!!! *SIGH* -merlot1959
OK, OK, I missed the college part. My bad. Sheesh. :) -BarmanVarn
grafic.. no ar-- Okay. It is Official - post secondary diplomas ARE just receipts at this point. sorry if I'm out of line here -- maybe he should stear AWAY from technology. -Harm
My daughters' school is so overcrowded (even over the firecode) that they had to get rid of the computer lab and put a regular class-room in there. -Stryker One
I look forward to competing for a job against today's graduates. And people wonder why the 18-25 crowd is 50% unemployed. -scooby111
I am *not* proud of my generation. Was out to dinner with my department one night and one of the managers told how she'd interviewed a young guy for an entry level position who said to her, "I will get my own office, right? Because I think I'd get lost in the cube world..." I have ceased to wonder why simply showing up on time and doing what I'm assigned creates wonder and gratitude in bosses. -AnneBWalsh
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11.
C-SMURF
C-SMURF run. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/02/most-awesomely-bad-military-acronyms-8/[By: K9Insanity / 2010-02-02]
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Run, SMURF, Run! -SalParadise
Almost had to fight when they wanted to rename my Dept. as 'Agent Support Services". -AngrySup
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12.
Why is it so farging hard
To connect 1 wire from a modem to a router.
Or to connect 1 wire from a pc to a modem.
it's only 1 forkin wire
People are STUPID with a capital STUPID. [By: atomicbill / 2010-02-02]
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Yes. That is all :) -rosemetal
You think *that's* bad, wait till they try to connect 2Wire! <runs for the LART shelter> -EMTGeekGirl
I'll be happy when the day comes that i dont have to expain to a user what a power cable is.... I didnt realize electricity was a new concept. -SwizzleStix
GeekGirl, think about how long the conversation will be to explain to them how to connect one wire to a 2-wire! ("Now, we want to connect the 2-Wire with one wire" "But I only have one wire!" "Exactly, and it'll go to the 2-Wire" "But I just told you, I've only got one wire!") It'll put the Abbott & Costello "Who's on First" routine to shame... -Voz
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13.
Follow up to Just 1 Wire...
I'm reorganising the comms room, Between a router & firewall was a 4 port hub for testing... I remove the hub and have a single wire between the units and they stop working... I realise that the equipment is old (pre 2003) and won't auto detect on the ports so needs a crossover cable or a hub in the middle ! - So I have to put the hub back (I don't have a 3 Mtr cross over cable...)
[By: Wonko The Sane / 2010-02-03]
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if they let you, and you have the tools, you could make one. -compbrat
Took a few seconds yesterday to remake one, removing a slack loop that was a trip hazard. It'll be less of a hazard once we get the replacement device and hook it up RIGHT again.... -Grue
Don't have a crimper? Use two RJ-45 jacks and cross connect them. Simple to remove later when you get the proper cable. -ecoli
Am I the only person who can make a decent Ethernet cable out of cat-5 without too much trouble, but I have a bitch of a time with cat-6? -Seamus
Seamus, nope. Cat5 I can knock out in a minute or so... Cat6 involves at least 3 minutes of me cussing like a sailor, then another minute or so of me throwing things. -TechnoTherapist
Instant crossover cable http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/7470/ -McSmiley
And I have about 5# of these in my office: http://images.opentip.com/full/MNP/MNP-5089.jpg -Tekkie
While we're on the subject, what is the secret to getting all the wires to quickly and easily stay in the proper order without getting a hand cramp??? -RiffRaff
My fav crimper / connectors: http://www.smarthome.com/manuals/89264.pdf (PDF) -MasterOfNone
Those EZ-RJ45 connectors are awesome. I want the crimper and some of those so bad when I re-wire my house -HelpdeskDaddy
Yeah, but if there is no plastic at the end of the jack, won't the data just dribble out the ends of the cut wire? -ecoli
Seamus, me too. I've been making my own cat5 cables for years with near 100% success, but I have to redo about 25% of my cat6 crimpings. Sometimes I can tell which end is bad by jiggling the wire, but usually I have to throw them out and try again. -SaladOfDoom
CAT5 - CAT6 tester -- best $100 my company ever spent. If you know which wire is not connected, you can usually see it in the plug body; never yet had one where, knowing that it was a bad pin 3, I couldn't see the misconnection in the one end. And I have a small stash of CAT6 RJ45 which are relatively easy to connect; they have an insert through which you thread your wires, in the correct order, then cut off the ends, stuff the insert in the body and crimp. So far, no failures and all running at full CAT6 speed. Touch wood. -chazz
Riff - I usually strip an inch or two of the outer insulation, straighen the wires and line them up in correct order, then cut to length whilst holding them flat. -smellystudent
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14.
well tahts just fraakin great (nt/ot)
after being screened out of several applications due to my lack of a post secondary receipt, I was advised that eventually i will be training my replacment. how nice. this will aparently be happening in the next few months.
time to start spamming my resume everywere. again. anyone know of places hiering in Ottawa? 12 years IT expirience, 7 years call center, 2 years goverment consultant. [By: Harm / 2010-02-03]
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Sorry to hear it. Let me be the first to send the special TSC Karma your way. Make sure you "train" your replacement real well before you leave. -Crispy06
I agree with Crispy, *nudge**nudge**wink**wink* [one Keg-O-Karma on its way, good luck!] -ecoli
thanks -gona need it. i know i have employment up to the end of March, possibly beyond, just don't know when things will end. if i have to - I'll go back to call center work again. -Harm
Getting to train your replacement is a total slap in the face. Make sure they get the correct "training" too. -Starfury
Given i'm going to be replaced with a student intern - I doubt training will do any good in the first place. -Harm
You could, theoretically, get your G.E.D. (equivalency diploma)by the time your pimply-faced replacement arrives. Probably too late, but it would be fun to show H.R. on your way out. -ThinTheHerd
Training from Harm: "Mitch, we like to play a little game here...." (Too obscure?) -YourLastHope
I actually Have my highschool - Post secondary up here = College or University. I did get into S laurence for a 3 year Network admin egree - but didnt finish that year to to.. interesting circumstances. i ended up finishing at a diferent school ( same board) the next year and took time off to figure out what i wanted to do and reapply. I just never end up finiding something to take with the IT bubble burst and ended up working help desk for the next 7 years. -Harm
YourLastHope - I got that. Nice reference. -thx1138
Stryker One shows YourLastHope, "The Goat". -Stryker One
Sorry to hear that, well you can train your replacement some things that are against company policy right before your exit in hopes that they will crash and burn. -THETECHFROMHELL
Hmmm. Not hard to do. It's govmt after all. -Harm
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15.
[NT/OT] I got a date.
I finally have a start date and time. Feb 8th at 9am. It is all solid now. Questions have been asked and answered. I will prolly have more. I have some spare karma to give. I was giving so much with my thanks. Take all you want. be warned, its green, smells like old, stale beer, and I think it has started moving. I think I will call it Bob...[By: DarkRookie
/ 2010-02-03 ]
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Grats! -Harm
I saw the headline, and thought you meant a date date, I was all set to call bullshit, cause you know none of us can get dates....j/k Grats on the thing you were talking about. -drachen
Congrats! -rosemetal
^5 man! I'll drop in the IRC to kick you in the balls later in celebration! -RA
Congrats!!!!!! -THETECHFROMHELL
WTG !! and Congrats -TechTard
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16.
Norman Rockwell
It's his birthday today. Or as the media would put it, "Today is Norman Rockwell's birthday. He would have been 116 had he lived".[By: Biosynthetic / 2010-02-03]
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Google is honoring him today: http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2010/0203/Norman-Rockwell-Saturday-Evening-Post-artist-earns-a-Google-doodle -ecoli
One of my friends, with often under-founded extreme hates and likes, reviles Rockwell, for illustrating the America as it Never Was, glorifying the idealistic and impossible that people hearken back to. I tell him that as he likes the painted murals on vans, with snow tigers and warrior women in scanty chain bikinis, he can shut right the hell up. Then I laugh a little. -LDFeral
Maybe he was right: I mean, a family gathering for Thanksgiving dinner? Preposterous! Total fantasy! -Biosynthetic
Absolutely he was right. Rockwell's small-town America never existed, and it has created what might be considered a false nostalgia, people wanting to go back to this time that never existed. I suspect Rockwell knew what he was doing; see his self-portrait, where he is making himself far more manly and handsome in the painting than he is in the mirror. I myself am something of a victim of this, as MrsChazz had visions of a Rockwell Thanksgiving or Christmas with my parents, one that could never materialize because of who my mother was, and I have had to suffer through her disappointment. On the other hand, nobody really believes the warrior women on the sides of vans, with their breasts that ignore gravity, exist... which makes them less harmful in their fiction, I suppose. -chazz
"Willoughby! Next stop, Willoughby!" -Captain Trips
yea... teh happy peacefull family during the holidays.. thats is the lie.. - i have YET to at ANY family gathering that does not include at least 1 conflict, usually extremly vocal. -Harm
My family is not as great as the rockwell painting - but we have yet to realy fight, some disagreements sometimes - no fights -compbrat
On some level, I need to believe in Rockwell's America. And in scantily clad warrior women. -linkv
<da> I too used to hate the unrealistic portrayals of this country from Rockwell. If you ever get a chance though, go to see a few of his actual peices. On further study, there are elements of reality to Rockwell's paintings: Take the 2 paintings where he depicts a family going to the Race and coming home from it...it captures a family outing, accurately, then and now. Think about taking your family to the beach, or fair in the middle of summer, today. Yeah, the nuclear family element is gone from our society but it was still very present when he painted. As for his unrealistic paintings of families gathered around the table, and a relatively congenial society, a)you could say for some of the paintings, it is more so that he was painting something to be aspired to and b) you can't blame the man for the fact that other people misinterpret his work as snap shots of the way things were (or blind themselves that it was that way when it really wasn't)-not the painter's fault. Much of his stuff was quite humorous and playful, dealing with very everyday matters, and were quite meticulous and complicated in the portrayals and painterly composition. Additionally, I would put his style up against any "ultra-realist" painter working today. And it is certainly better than the drek that Thomas Kincade puts out. Now there, you want to talk about people ascribing meaning to to drivel...don't get me started</da> ..and the resident art historian returns to the shadows...and Feral, I love your answer to him-very astute! -Magenta
Here's the thanksgiving in reality. http://www.thedailyquip.com/images/RedneckAgain/RedneckThanksgiving.bmp -Biosynthetic
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17.
Exposing my ignorance.
This post http://www.techcomedy.com/single/new_stories.php?content_number=82305 just reminded me of something that I've wondering about for a while now and Google has not been helpful with. Why did coax lose out to twisted-pair in the LAN environment? High end coax will transmit frequencies well into the 10s of gigahertz range. So what's the deal here?[By: Stryker One
/ 2010-02-03 ]
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http://www.cat-5-cable-company.com/faq-coax-VS-CAT5.html
[Q] Is Coaxial Cable faster than CAT 5 Cable?
[A] Not at all. In order to understand the answer to this question, you must first understand the history of the cable itself. Cat 5 Cable originally was designed to handle data transmission speeds of 10 Megabits Per Second. This is the same speed that coaxial cable operates at. Improvements in the construction of CAT 5 Cable, and the further development of twisted pair cabling that has given way to CAT 5e, CAT 6, and many other types of cable has allowed twisted pair cabling to operate at much higher speeds than coaxial cable.
CAT 5 Cable has other specific advantages as well. The cost of twisted pair cabling is much cheaper in most cases than using a coaxial cable. CAT 5 Cable also weighs much less than coaxial cable, and is therefore easier to use in certain installation applications. Continued development of twisted pair cable will allow for even higher transmission speeds in the years to come.
-DataSolutions
Of course, that's a biased answer, given that it comes from a twisted pair company... but it is, in a lot of ways, accurate. Coax cable is significantly more expensive, and significantly harder to work with than UTP, something that I am very aware of having recently wired a few security cameras that required coax cable. The star topology of the physical CAT5 layout is also much easier to deal with than the bus topology of the "Cheapernet" 10b2 cables. Presumably that could have been changed, by making the 100b2 a star topology, but that would also have made all existing 10b2 networks obsolete, where 100bt could run over existing 10bt wires. And there was teh perception of expense, caused by the old StarLan hubs, which were horribly expensive, but the only star topology network people had seen before. Basically it was a case of economy winning over common sense, apparently. -chazz
If a user decides to fiddle around with Cat5/6/etc, they will manage to disconnect their PC from the network. If they manage to leave coax cable disconnected, they will crash the network. -Holdfast
Having managed a coax network, I can tell you it was painful. Star topology was so much easier to manage than bus topology that by the time 100baseT was released nobody was interested enough in coax to make it worthwhile to develop. There also might be some issues to do with the cost of hubs; one pair has to do the work of three, and handle contention. The frequency requirement would go up, and at 1GHz, 100m of RG58 loses 99.99999% of your signal. (10m only loses about 80%.) Whereas Cat5 can handle 10, 100, and maybe even 1000Mbps. -rurwin
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18.
Cool product but...
I'm not quite sure exactly what it does. http://www.lowyat.net/v2/latest/when-concept-becomes-a-reality.html It’s touted as a “personal wireless receiver with headset & headphone profiles.” It allows hands free phone calls, and can be used for VoIP. It will also pair with a Bluetooth capable Mac, PC or MP3 player, where it can be used as a remote control. And, we are told, it “displays the time in a new way.”
It has A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, and HSP interfaces. It uses Bluetooth v2.1 +EDR Class 2. It operates on the 2.4GHz frequency. And has a range of about 30 feet. Talk time is up to 6 hours; standby up to 180 hours. It charges through a USB port. And has a 3.5 mm audio jack.
So beyond that I have no idea about the product although it does look pretty cool. Should be interesting to see what it develops into.[By: AdeptusMechanis / 2010-02-03]
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"It is not available yet, but you can visit the official website for a newsletter subscription. No price was unveiled either. Technabob estimates it would go as high as $180 USD." -RA
Soooo...? You'd now have to wear this disk on your ear? I'm not exactly sure what the big benefit is over a Bluetooth enabled phone. -Stryker One
I'm betting the backside has a speaker. -unrenowned
Guess: media controller (vis: dvd-type control buttons) and headset in one inconvenient hockey puck. -chazz
It is a headset in the same form-factor and functionality as an mp3 player. It hangs around your neck, and you plug headphones into it. Now if it could pair with multiple devices and switch between them, it just might be worth getting. -rurwin
I can't find a picture, but that thing reminds me of the first stage Cybermen implant (from Dr Who). -LDFeral
It's obviously a recondensing dynoflex with a built in hypersonic freebler and the optional fratnoid. I used to fix these things. -atomicbill
As far as I can figure it's a bluetooth remote for a phone or multimedia device that has a wired headset in/output. -McSmiley
Great yet another gadget that will have to be supported, just think of the support calls for this. -Deadagent
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19.
What is data part three
Today's rant starts with my son (college computer 101 student for those not paying attention) needed assistance with a zip file. It requires "some software I do not have". Um, the teacher provides lessons in a zip file but the college did not provide zip software? Um. OK. Another "um"... Um, you are teaching the child what the terms "point" and "click" means and yet you are expecting them to install Access and unzips files onto a flash drive? Am I expecting the horse before the cart? OK, I'm ignorant. I do not use Access. If you were being taught what the difference is between an operating system and a hard drive, would you think the child can go home and follow directions to perform these relatively advanced tasks? Something tells me his college computer class will provide me with many "what is data" posts! Back to the partial nuke/pave of my daughter's Bendnovo! One day I will post my lovely experience with their EXCELLENT TECHNICAL SUPPORT!!! [By: merlot1959 / 2010-02-03]
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Sorry dude. He's not cut out a tech. Face it. He's got management written all over him. Again. Sorry. If your lucky, he could make hairdresser. Again. It would.only be a benifit society as a hole. Sorry. Don't waste the tuition! -Harm
What college is this?? I want to make absolutely sure that my son NEVER goes there! -unrenowned
"Hairdresser"? Geez Harm, that's just mean. (Hairdressers, send all hate-mail to udoshan@...) -udoshan
Its a sad trend I've been seeing. Tech parents seem to produce non-tech children. It could be because we do all the tech tasks, so they never have to learn, or it could just be the old 'I don't wanna grow up to be like mom/dad' thing. -LDFeral
Being the curious sort that I am, I looked up ADHD symptoms on several medical websites. Forgetfulness/memory issues was listed as a symptom. Maybe they are wrong, just telling you what I read. -BarmanVarn
Wrong post, oops. :) -BarmanVarn
The college is Rockland Community College in NY. Todays adventure will be posted later. I tend to agree. He isn't cut out to be a techie. At least not in the fashion "college" teaches. But then again, we know that no school include a "techical" school can teach anyone to be a techie. Point in case, I went to NYU for "Console Operations". That did NOT help me get into the field. -merlot1959
as far as the hairdresser remark- I've met Hairtech (Grue's Wife) in person and she's a damned sit smarter than this kid seems to be. How does one get through any non-inbred hillbilly high school these days w/o knowing what a zip file is? -HappyCrappy
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20.
iiNet wins the case!
Backstory: Movie studios try to sue iiNet for encouraging piracy. Judge rules in iiNet's favour! http://news.ninemsn.com.au/business/1007995/judge-rules-in-favour-of-iinet [By: Wraith556 / 2010-02-03]
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Hmm, common sense winning? -ProfessorFrink
Anyone following DIGG or Reddit may have seen the FUBAR thing the Sout Australian State Government has been up to of late - R rated movies treated as porn, stifling any political comment in print or electronic media. This coupled with the proposed internet filtering scheme that the Federal Government thinks is any way resembling a good idea had me contiplating uprooting my family and emigrating to the Land of the Long White Cloud. Then this story and having the SA censorship laws overturned has me thinking that maybe all Aussies aren't complete morons after all -PoglaTheGrate
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