Monday - 17 April 2000
Child's Play. The scene: The Ginza District of Tokyo. Exterior shot of an apartment. Uniformed police surround it leaving no exit. The sound of one of them speaking through a mega-phone is heard: "Throw out your Sony PlayStation2 and come out with your hands up" [imagine this being sub-titles]. Well, OK. It could happen. Really. It could. Japan's Trade Ministry will require special permits to export the new PlayStation2 as it could be adapted for military use. "Huh?" You say. Well, its graphics processor is supposed to be so fast that it could be used in missile guidance systems. Sigh.
Be Switching Hour. So I got my new Belkin OmniCube 4-port KVM switch plugged in this weekend. As most of you folks know, a Keyboard/Video/Mouse (KVM) switch allows you to have one keyboard/video monitor/keyboard control more than one PC. The number of ports denotes the number of PCs you can control.
Except for a few problems you may run in to. Like if you have one PC that has AT-style connectors and one that has PS/2. Oh, you can use an adapter for the keyboard. But trying to use an adapter for the mouse did not work. By that I mean it physically fit into the AT-port. But the mouse was not recognized so it would not work.
Another problem with this model is that the main input ports for the keyboard and mouse are in the front of the switch. Now, maybe that makes sense in your setup, but it sure doesn't on my desk. I have to run the cables from under the desk (where my slide-out keyboard platform is) up the back, over the front of the switch and into its input ports. All of the other cables fit into the back. Some would consider this a feature.
Otherwise, it works just fine. I'm running one PC's video resolution at 1024X768 at 75Hz. The other, which will be Linux box some day will probably run at 800X600 at 85Hz. Neither shows any signs of double images that can occur with cables that are not shielded well.
Speaking of Linux. I downloaded the ISO image of Mandrake Linux 7.02 over the weekend. Actually, it took two-and-a-half hours to download about 640MBs. That was the easy part (nothing like seeing a download at 1.35Mbps). Once I finished downloading and then burning a CD, I had to try to install it.
FAT chance. I guess I was spoiled by Caldera's OpenLinux install. Caldera took care of everything , including the partitions. As far as I can see, this is not the case with Mandrake. At least. That's the error message I get when running the installation. It also had problems finding my NEC CD-ROM drive. Sometimes it would find it, sometimes it wouldn't. When it didn't, it would sometimes bring up a VERY short list of drives to try from (none of which match the drive).
So, I am now downloading OpenLinux 2.4 and will try that as soon as I find the time.
PS. I'm still waiting to hear from the University of Hawai'i Graduate Program on my application. They said they would decide in the beginning of April. Then they said the middle of April. Well, nothing so far. Nothing like state workers...Sheesh. What? I'm a state worker? Well, ahem. That's correct. So, Never Mind. I'm sure there is ample valid justification for the inadvertent delay.
***** Noon Update *****
You, Cringley. I haven't been out to Robert X. Cringley's site for awhile. But there a two recent columns worth taking a look at when you have the time.
The first is about the Microsoft Trial. Now wait. I know you've just about had it up to here with the trial. And so has everyone else. But Cringley puts forth his reasoning as to why he thinks Microsoft won. Won! You say? Well, go read the column here and find out about power, and its uses.
The other column deals with the recent price drop in high-tech stocks. Specifically, 3Com and Palm Computing. You don't have to be a business or economics major to understand what is happening with the market. But it doesn't hurt. For those who aren't, check out the column here.
Smoke and Mirrors. When the tobacco settlements were first announced, the states rejoiced and starting spending money that did not yet exist. So know it's becoming clear that each will probably get less that they thought. Perhaps much less if some tobacco companies bail out and file for bankruptcy. And for those that don't, creative accounting could leave the states shaking their heads and wondering where all the money went [to the same accountants that do Hollywood's books - Ed.]
So now comes the latest counter to the tobacco strategy. The Kansas legislature is thinking about issuing bonds using the future income from the settlement as collateral. While it is not a new idea, and there is some merit to it, some are decrying the way the proposal surfaced.
"Clearly it has been done in the smoke-filled corridors, pardon the pun, of some legislative offices," said Rep. Henry Helgerson, D-Wichita. "If it is a good idea -- and some states have moved in this direction -- then it should have a full public airing."
See the Wichita Eagle article here.
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Tuesday - 18 April 2000
Internet2. Do you feel the need? The need for speed? Well, the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy recently tapped its LAN into the Internet2 backbone. At 45Mbps, this will allow others located on the mainland to remotely control and observe, in real time, the telescopes located on the slopes of Mauna Kea crater on the Big Island of Hawai'i. Including the famed Keck I and II 10-metre scopes. The two largest optical and near infra-red scopes in the world. See the story from the Internet2 web site here.
Speaking of Speed. Or lack thereof. As noted yesterday, I started downloading Caldera's OpenLinux ISO image yesterday (about 650MBs). And it didn't finish until late last night. Not because my connection was slow, but because their server was. Slow that is. I don't know how many other people were trying to access their one site. But I was getting about 20kbps. Compare this to the 1.35Mbps I was getting while downloading Mandrake from one of their many mirror sites (the Oregon one if you're interested). I haven't had the time to burn a CD yet, but as soon as I do, I'll try their install.
Low and Slow. Too low, as it turns out. The Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating the crash yesterday of probably one of the more unique aircraft they've ever seen. A replica of an Aichi D3A1 ("Val") dive bomber. Three of the replica planes were being used in the filming of the movie "Pearl Harbor" here when one of them, in a mock strafing run of Ford Island, flew too low and clipped the top of a palm tree. Ripping the wing of the Val off, and leaving the plane spinning to the ground. Upon hitting the ground, the engine when one way and the fuselage, with the pilot went the other (all of this was captured on video tape). Fortunately, the only injury to the pilot was a broken wrist. The plane, needless to say, was totaled.
***** Noon Update *****
Hydras Severed. I am appalled by the uncaring comments by certain Daynoters (you know who you are) about poor Tom Syroid's problems with Unix. So Tom had a switch in the wrong place when he issued a remove command. It could have happened to any of us (although I tippy-toe around when I'm using Unix commands. Powerful they are. Dangerous they can be. I sense much fear in him that seeks the Dark Side). I'll have you know I would never act like that. OK. Maybe I would. But only in jest and without any meanness in my heart when I did it. Did I mention the time I accidently deleted all of the .dlls in my Windows directory? I think that's what backups are for. Right?
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Hump Day Wednesday - 19 April 2000
Fat Pipes. A consortium of more than 40 phone companies announced yesterday that they would build a USD $1 billion under-sea cable linking eight Asian markets to meet future Internet demands.
The network, called Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 (that rolls of the tongue doesn't it?) will carry 2.56 terabits per second through its 12,000 mile (19,300 km) pipe. The project is expected to be done by September 2001.
Or are you just happy to see me? Microsoft announced today the availability of Pocket PC (home page here - also, turn down your sound before you go there) compliant devices (see next paragraph). Each Pocket PC will include:
Pocket Outlook
Pocket Internet Explorer
Pocket Word and Excel
Windows Media Player
MS Money
Pocket Streets
One of the first available devices to use the new system is the Compaq iPaq Pocket PC (see it here).
***** Noon Update *****
Area 51. OK, all you X-Files folks. If you've been trying (unsuccessfully) to get to the terraserver.com site, you can also view some of the pics (at low resolution) here at the Federation of American Scientist site. FAS has done a side-by-side comparison between the terraserver pics and ones done in 1968. Note that as the thundering herds head their way, their site too will become jammed with lookey-loos. So get it while it's hot. And remember, you saw it here first.
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Thursday - 20 April 2000
Good Thursday. OK. Tomorrow is the holiday. And in fact, today is a busy one for me. I have a report due at noon. And a meeting this afternoon on setting up what is known as a "Drug Court" on the neighbor islands.
So this is my way of saying I'm back into SSM (Short Shrift Mode).
Taxing Times. What with Congress and state legislatures always looking for more ways of taking money out of pocket. And this being the tax season, I thought I'd point out an article from the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee (the 90K pdf file is here). Essentially they are saying that states will lose USD $10.8 billion in potential revenues due to the moratorium on internet taxes in 2003. One way or another, states will make up this difference. Either by raising their own taxes and fees, or trying to get the moratorium lifted. Either way, you'll pay in the end (as it were). The abstract for the article is below:
E-Commerce in the Context of Declining State Sales Tax Bases by Donald Bruce and William F. Fox.
ABSTRACT: This paper extends the quantitative estimates of sales tax revenue losses from electronic commerce in a variety of ways. First, we place the effects of e-commerce in the context of general sales tax base trends, arguing that e-commerce is only one of the factors reducing sales tax bases. Second, we take a forward looking view, estimating both the current losses and the expected losses several years hence. Third, we estimate the revenue-neutral increases in state sales tax rates that will become necessary to offset the base declines. Revenue loss estimates are prepared for every state with a sales tax. Our baseline estimates suggest that e-commerce will cause about $10.8 billion in additional tax revenue losses nationwide in 2003. JEL Classification: H71 (State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue).
Maine to Give Away Laptops. I bet that got your attention. Actually, what is proposed is that every seventh-grade student in the state would be given a laptop computer to use until they graduate from high school. I'm not sure what happens after that but Maine Governor Angus King states that this program would close the "digital divide" and give Maine a boost into the technology forefront.
The cost for this give away? USD $65 million total ($50 million state tax funds and 15 million federal tax funds and private grants/donations). The money would be deposited into an endowment fund from which the purchases would be made in perpetuity. Maine figures since they would be buying so many PCs they could get a price down into the $500 range per laptop. They estimate 21,000 students and teachers would get the laptops the first year.
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Aloha Friday - 21 April 2000
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