Chip Helps Electric Outlet Go Broadband - Yahoo! News

"TOKYO - The common electric socket will serve as your home's connection to broadband with a new chip developed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. — doing away with all the Ethernet cables or the hassle of hooking up to a wireless network device."

Very cool.

Verne's monster of the deep caught on camera

"A GIANT squid, the elusive behemoth of the deep that inspired Jules Verne, has been observed alive for the first time, scientists reported yesterday."

Oil prices prompt another look at shale - Oil & Energy - MSNBC.com

Colorado is one of the main Rocky Mountain states to have shale oil. Wikipediate provides another article on shale oil.

And from an artcile in Billings Gazette:

A reserve estimated at nearly 2 trillion barrels of oil buried deep in rock formations stretching from western Colorado into northeastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming may be a way to ease U.S. dependence on shrinking foreign oil supplies. The newly enacted energy bill was written to help open the way for research programs and commercial leasing of federal land containing oil shale.

Part of the discussion is that shale oil could reduce are dependence on foreign oil. Which would be a good thing imo. Isn't part of what funds terrorism the profits from OPEC. I know there are all kinds of issues (environmental, cost, etc.) - but its probably a good thing that they are at least starting to explore it again.

InformationWeek > Security & Privacy > Judge Sides With Visa, Mastercard In Test Of Consumer Protection Law > September 26, 2005

"MasterCard attorney Gary Halling countered that the law's disclosure intent had already been satisfied because the mid-June press release that announced the CardSystems breach had attracted prominent media coverage throughout California and spurred a hearing in U.S. Congress."

I think the law's intent was that consumers should be individually notified. But I guess the judge disagreed.

Serenity

Only 10 days until Serenity comes out. I can't wait. :)

Overheard in the "store"

Downstairs grabbing a Diet Mt Dew from the "store". It sells soda, pre-made sandwhiches, salads, snack food; a little of this and that. Some place to grab something when the full blown cafe is not open. Seems I hit it along with everyone else, because the line is long and I'm standing there getting impatient, watching the only cashier work on making some Starbucks.

C: While this milk is heating up, I'll take the next person in line. What do you need? pointing to the next person in line
M: Just this cookie
C: That will be 95 cents, motions to the next person. And You?
W: I'll have a medium cheese tortalleni
C: Woefully looking at the espresso machine and sighing. I'm really new at this and don't know most of these drinks. You'll have to tell me how to make a Cheese Tortalleni
W: Its a salad
C: Oh... if its Italian I don't know what it is. I thought it was some coffee drink

My TiVo has gone wireless

TiVo has the capability to be hooked up to a wireless network - and even though I have one, I just hadn't gotten around to doing it. Mostly because I'm a procrastinator, and it is usually some form of "pain" that drives me to do things. Our TiVo upstairs was hooked up to a phone line, and that seemed just fine. However, the girls said they'd get me a 2nd one for my birthday, but would let me pick it out. Again... procrastinator. But now I *need* it, since the new fall season is starting and there are just too many shows on at the same time, that I want to see. Why stress over it? Just go get the 2nd box and set it up.

And since the 2nd box is downstairs, and I don't want to run a phone line through the family room and across the kitchen to the phone jack; I *NEED* a wireless connection. :)

So I got it set up - well partially. I got the 2nd box all configured and setup. While I was doing that, I also configured the upstairs box to connect to my home network. Took some playing around, but it got connected. The signal seems to vary in strength quite a bit - so we'll see how successful it is. For just talking to TiVo, I don't think it needs to be all that good. But for beaming TV shows between the boxes, it probably needs to be pretty strong.

Once I got the downstairs box setup, I tried connection another network adaptor, but it just doesn't seem to be working. So I'll play with that a bit more today.

And - while I was doing all of this, I tried connecting my serial cables from the TiVo to the Cable box. I had tried before but it didn't work... LUser error? I'm not sure. Because this time I tried it on the downstairs box and it replied with something along the lines of "Yup, that worked." Woo hoo! So I went up-stairs and tried that again, and it worked too! This is great news for me, as I've been missing a few shows because the IR controls didn't work exactly right and the channel didn't get changed. I've missed two episoides of Firefly because of this. Sniff. But now all is good. No such problems with one computer talking directly to another, without the stupid IR in the way. :)

So - a few more kinks (like is the adaptor downstairs no good, is the software too old on the new box - it ships old and then gets upgraded, or what?) - But I'll probably try and get them ironed out today. If not, well I'm out of town Wed - Sat, so will have to mess with it when I get back. But I'm "this" close to having it all hooked up. Technology is a cool thing.

In theory I can even download the shows from my boxes to my laptop and watch them there. Pretty sweet. :) - Might come in handing during long meetings at work. ;) (Not really - since I run most those meetings - but I'm sure other people would appreciate it. :) )

CNN.com - A book that googles Google - Sep 12, 2005

CNN.com - A book that googles Google - Sep 12, 2005: "Battelle explains how AltaVista might have become what Google is today if its innovations hadn't been mismanaged by Digital Equipment Corp. and Compaq Computer."

Yeah... I always wondered about that. AltaVista was a pretty good search engine written by Digital. For quite some time it was my primary search engine - now you hardly ever hear of it.

Identity Theft Scam - scammer claims you've failed to report for Jury Duty

Snopes Snopes article on an Identity Theft scam, "The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court and claims you've failed to report for jury duty. He tells you that a warrant has been issued for your arrest." This is real, has been reported on a number of web sites, and has been reported as happening in a number of states.

EBay to Buy Skype - New York Times

EBay moves into the VoIP business.

Samsung builds foundation for 32 GByte Flash cards

32 GByte Flash memory. Also mentions 160 GByte 2.5-inch hard drives. Wow.

The Six Dumbest Ideas in Computer Security

#2 - Enumerating Badness - I see that in a lot of different areas. Don't look for what you think is bad - instead, look for anything that isn't good. That way you find bad stuff you never thought of before.

Google bomb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I had never heard of Google bombing until someone sent me mail saying that "miserable failure" was linking to the President. Seeing as this is somewhat a form of fraud, I would have thought I would have heard of it sooner. Oh well, learn something new every day. :)

Google Talk

OK, so Google Talk seems cool. I'll have to install it and give it a shot at some point.

Vint Cerf goes to Google

This Press Release talks about Vint leaving MCI and going to Google. Vint was always a big fan of Sheriff. We'll see if somehow that relationship still continues. The fact that he is going there again confirms that they are doing some very cool stuff.

Louisiana's Wetlands @ National Geographic Magazine

This is an article from last Oct., talking about how New Orleans could be in real trouble if hit by a hurricane.

MCI LAUNCHES TOLL FREE SERVICE TO REUNITE LOVED ONES IMPACTED BY HURRICANE KATRINA

We provide a toll-free service to help in the Katrina effort. I didn't have anything to do with it, but its cool. :)

Wired News: A Disaster Map 'Wiki' Is Born

Wired article about http://www.scipionus.com/. A google based map of the Katrina disaster area with ability to provide your own information. Very cool use of the technology.

Wired News: Furniture Causes FedEx Fits

Wired news artical about the previous post.

FedexFurniture.Com

Wow - only in America. I just think this is really cool on so many levels

• I can't believe that some corporate siste is so upset that it is going after him.
• Its so cool that the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society is helping him in his fight
  
• I think it is cool he didn't just roll over
  
• Its a very creative idea
  
• Having uses an old cable spool for a dinning room table, boxes for end tables, and boards & cement blocks for shelving - when Tina and I first got together - its just cool.

Anyway - an interesting site. And the blog is cool too - all the stuff that is going on, corporations sending him free furniture, etc. Blogs and the internet are cool. Anyone can be a start - you just have to be creative. :)

Well that was prophetic

Tina and I are getting ready for work this morning. I'm brushing my hair and she is blow-drying hers. The blow dryer is making a humming noise, but it is getting louder and quieter.
Tina: I think this blow dryer is about to go out
She pulls it away from her, looks at it, and moves it back towards her head
Blow-dryer: Humm, whirl, CLANG
Tina jumps, yanks it away from her head and stares at it
The blow-dryer gasps one last time and the coughs out a puff of smoke
I start laughing.

Evelyn Waugh Quotes - The Quotations Page

Evelyn Waugh Quotes - The Quotations Page: "Punctuality is the virtue of the bored."

I'll agree with that... I'm rarely bored - and always running late. :)