From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Sep 16 19:02:06 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i8GN26B16076; Thu, 16 Sep 2004 19:02:06 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 19:02:06 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200409162302.i8GN26B16076@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #431 TELECOM Digest Thu, 16 Sep 2004 19:02:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 431 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Reopening the Door to Product Placement (Monty Solomon) Microsoft Flip-Flop May Signal Blog Clog (Monty Solomon) Powell: Bells' Broadband Lines in TV's Future (Monty Solomon) Net Virus Turf War Resumes After Rival's Arrest (Lisa Minter) Re: Seeking Micro-PBX Info (Carl Navarro) Re: My New DVR From Cable One (Kosta) WiFi Hotspot Directory Includes Over 12,000 Listings (Riverwalk Mobile) Re: My Gripe With the Hype Around Skype and Five Good Reasons (Leo) Re: Last Laugh! Start the Day Right! (Gary Novosielski) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 00:12:46 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Reopening the Door to Product Placement http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=26008 Reopening the Door to Product Placement For the first time, Sony Pictures Television is going to re-edit an existing series episode to add a product placement that will air only in syndication, not during the regular network run. The new scene for "The King of Queens," which enters its second year of syndication this week, will incorporate a plug for Dr. Scholl's Massaging Gel Insoles. It is part of a sponsorship deal between SPT and Dr. Scholl's parent Schering-Plough that involves a sweepstakes offering as a prize: a behind-the-scenes tour of Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles. Schering will back the promotion with "millions of dollars" in advertising, including television, radio and print. Of course, what made us Blink was the idea that any current or past series where the actors are still alive could in theory be re-edited to add other placements in the future. How about some new Jockey shorts for "Raymond" or a Trojan condom placement in "Will & Grace," or maybe they can go back and have Halliburton sell lunch to the patients as they come off the battlefield on "M*A*S*H." -JON LAFAYETTE http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=26008 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 10:16:48 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Microsoft Flip-Flop May Signal Blog Clog By Paul Festa Staff Writer, CNET News.com As Web logs gain in popularity, critics warn that they are increasingly becoming the Internet's new bandwidth hog. The issue has been in the spotlight for much of this month, following a decision by Microsoft to abbreviate developer blogs both on its Web site and in syndication, citing a bandwidth crunch. The Redmond, Wash., software giant stopped delivering the full text of postings on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) to blog subscribers, requiring them instead to follow a link to read the postings in their entirety. Facing a clamor of criticism from its own developers, Microsoft on Tuesday backtracked on that decision. Microsoft's flip-flop is a red flag for large enterprises and other groups that host and syndicate bloggers. As the practice gains popularity, network administrators could face tough choices in meeting a demand that promises to put new strains on server resources. The developments at MSDN have also raised questions about fundamental Internet and blogging protocols and practices, with the "blogosphere" erupting in debates over everything from obscure extensions to HTTP to the wisdom of group blogs and the resurrection of push technology. http://news.com.com/2100-1032-5368454.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 11:28:15 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Powell: Bells' Broadband Lines in TV's Future By Reuters U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell on Wednesday said technology and telecommunications companies are racing to develop ways to pipe television shows into consumers' homes via high-speed Internet lines. Telephone companies like SBC Communications are trying to fend off mounting competition from cable television companies that are able to offer consumers a bundled package of products, including phone and Internet service. http://news.com.com/2100-1037-5368429.html ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Net Virus Turf War Resumes After Rival's Arrest Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 16:05:38 EDT LONDON (Reuters) A new virus outbreak emerged on Thursday that packs a baffling message: a photograph of accused German virus author Sven Jaschan that security officials believe to be a geeky taunt from a rival gang of computer programmers. Last week, German authorities charged 18-year-old Jaschan with sabotage for allegedly creating the destructive Sasser computer worm and Netsky computer viruses, some of the most potent digital outbreaks to ever hit the Internet. Following his arrest in May, the teenage computer wizard admitted to police he wrote the code for Sasser and more than two dozen Netsky viruses that wreaked havoc across the Internet during the first few months of 2004. Now, it appears, rival programmers are exulting in his downfall and using their favorite calling card -- a tenacious computer virus dubbed MyDoom -- to mock their vanquished foe. "I think the MyDoom group wants to rub it in that they won, Jaschan lost," said Mikko Hypponen, manager of anti-virus research at Finnish security firm F-Secure. In the past week, a volley of new MyDoom viruses have hit the Internet, including the most recent MyDoom.Y, which carries a file attachment with a mugshot of Jaschan. The viruses are relatively benign and have done little more than communicate to the world that their authors are still free to program new outbreaks. "The really bad guys are still out there," Hypponen said. BAD BLOOD RUNS DEEP The rivalry between Jaschan and the MyDoom gang became clear to anti-virus experts earlier in the year when Jaschan's Netsky virus was unleashed on the Net designed to hunt out and destroy MyDoom and another pesky virus, Bagel. Bagel and MyDoom contagions had been programmed to take control of vulnerable PCs and turn them into spam machines that spit out streams of junk e-mail. Netsky, at least in its earliest forms, was designed to defuse them. The real damage to computer users began when a programming war of sorts erupted with both sides devising new strains to eliminate the others' handiwork. Such rivalries between programming groups is nothing new. Security officials point to disputes between Indian and Pakistani hacking groups in 2002 and 2003. At one stage, a group calling themselves Indian Snakes unleashed a worm called Yaha that sought to knock out a series of Pakistani government Web sites. Oddly, the tussle between Jaschan and the MyDoom group may have its roots in a noble cause: the eradication of outbreaks capable of turning PCs into spam engines. "Jaschan probably thought of himself as a modern-day Robin Hood," Hypponen said. Other anti-virus experts are less sympathetic, pointing to Jaschan's final creation -- the Sasser worm -- that is blamed for knocking out an estimated 1 million computer systems of home users and companies around the world. Sasser victims range from the British Coastguard to the European Commission, web sites Goldman Sachs and Australia's Westpac Bank. Some security firms called it the most destructive worm ever. "Writing a virus to disable another virus is like fighting a war to win the peace. There's always going to be casualties," said Paul Wood, information security analyst with Britain's MessageLabs. ===================== *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Yahoo News and Reuters News. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Seeking Micro-PBX Info Reply-To: cnavarro@wcnet.org Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 05:41:22 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 04:27:23 GMT, William Warren wrote: > Hi, > I have a client who wants a micro-PBX with these features: > First, the "Gotta Have" features: > 1. Supports standard "2500" sets - _*NO*_ special phones allowed. This is > for a summer camp with _very_ limited AC. > 2. About 10 stations. > 3. Two outside lines, both used for incoming and outgoing calls yes,yes,yes > Some features they would like, but are willing to do without: > 1. Automatic night-service with direct ring-through to a specified > extension > 2. Ability to restrict which lines can dial out. >3. 911 > dial-through without need for outside line access code, from all > phones. yes,yes,no My choice would be a Panasonic KXT-61610 or KXT-A624, both for the ability to have SMDR (a printout) and the Call Management Products Call-Extend 2 port autoattendant. > Of course, they want to spend very little. C'est la vie. Little is about $1600 for the common equipment and $25 per phone. Installation extra. > All suggestions welcome. TIA. > William Warren > (Filter noise from my return address for direct replies) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If you can find one, the Melco PBX does > almost all the above. They were seven hundred some dollars when they > were being manufactured: 2 lines, 12 extensions, incoming calls always > rang to extension 21 (which was a/k/a 0, zero, operator; it had no > operator console or position), *super easy to install*, various features. > You could allow or disallow 9-level for outside calls, etc. I think > the Melco people went out of the telephone business entirely, but you > can still see them around now and then on E-Bay. PAT] Mercifully,, the Max-212 is harder and harder to come by. The 12 was also the operating voltage of the stations IIRC. A totally annoying system. Carl Navarro ------------------------------ From: peterb@nycap.rr.com (Kosta) Subject: Re: My New DVR From Cable One Date: 16 Sep 2004 07:01:51 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My television is a TV/VCR combination, > and I do now and then watch movies I get from the Blockbuster store > here in town, but I think only one time I recorded to it from the > television set. I have found one interesting thing about the new > DVR unit: I have a wireless cam in my back yard which focuses on a > bird sanctuary area which has a feeder, water and a couple nests. By > fiddling with the switches on the back of the DVR (and feeding the > wireless cam into it [instead of to the video AUX input on the TV as > I had been doing]) I can still watch over the birds from the comfort > of my house but I can switch between a small picture inside the larger > picture (what Cable One calls PIP or 'picture in picture') to a full > screen picture of the birds, as the cat torments them, or a picture > of what I had been watching or a little picture of one or the other > superimposed on the other picture (the PIP feature). PAT] Can you elaborate on how did you manage to do that? I have been trying to do the exact same thing with my DVR, but Time Warner said that it will not be possible. - Kosta [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You have to have *two* video sources on the cable, and an 'A/B' type switch which responds to remote control is useful as well. I have two units, one for the television in my parlor, and one for the television in my bedroom. Cable One said to me they are going to soon have available a 'new' DVR (although the current one is rather new) that has two distinct input/outputs on it, but for now, just make do with two cable converters and have the one DVR feed its output to the 'auxiliary input' of the other unit. Since the wireless camera I have on the combination bird sanctuary/ insect zoo/cat hiding place is not featured on our local cable system (!?) but it *does* put out an RF signal, with a bit of magic which I doubt that Cable One would approve of, I fed that RD signal into the RF converter on the DVR which turns RF into whatever the cable converter can deal with; so as far as the DVR is concerned it has its two 'television programs' coming to it from *two* video sources. Since the wireless cam has an audio lead as well, I could hook up audio as well, but I have not, since either the main picture or the PIP can be heard, but not both. Since the wireless cam also has infrared lights on it (which turn on or off based on a light sensor built in it), I can see the birds or the cat or various night crawling insects at any time, even midnight. The problem with that is that absent natural sun- light or artificial light (in other words, late night/early morning outside in a residential neighborhood), the resulting picture is a sort of greenish, 'bright gray' color in the invisible, infrared light. (My thanks to Mike Sandman for that infrared wireless cam; what he uses on his own cage-full of baby parakeets which you can see on his webcast of them as they sleep in their cage during the night.) But to answer your question, if you experiment with a second cable video source plugged into the main DVR unit, you should (admittedly after some grief) be able to get PIP working. I imagine that when Cable One gets their 'two source' DVR models available, Time Warner will have them also. I'm always getting into things I should not touch, which (for me) is amazing, since everything I touch, unlike King Midas, does NOT turn into gold, but rather into poo-poo. If you are interested, remind me to tell you how I (as of yesterday) took a mostly broken, busted up, very ancient IBM ThinkPad model 770 which had problems, no working CD Rom, no working floppy either, to run with Win 98 on it, upgraded from Win 95. *That* was a challenge, and I am very proud of my work, even though it is only 233 megs, *very slow*, but I got it working. PAT] ------------------------------ From: asnicholasjr@comcast.net (Riverwalk Mobile) Subject: WiFi Hotspot Directory Includes Over 12,000 Sites Including Intl! Date: 16 Sep 2004 07:44:36 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Greetings: Through our latest cooperation with Boingo, Wayport, FatPort, Telus and others we've dramatically increased the number of sites in our Directory. The directory can be accessed on your PC,Mac, Laptop, PDA or even an iPod! It's free and updated monthly so please go to www.riverwalkmobile.com to subscribe ------------------------------ From: laporte_leo@yahoo.com (Leo) Subject: Re: My Gripe With the Hype Around Skype and Five Good Reasons Date: 16 Sep 2004 11:32:58 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Monty Solomon wrote in message news:: > My gripe with the hype around Skype and five good reasons why you > shouldn't cancel your other phone services just yet. > I've been giving a lot of thought to all the hype that Skype has been > getting as of late. So much has been said about the great aspects of > Skype, of which there are a few, that in the interest of balancing > this with a bit of perspective on the downsides, I thought I'd throw a > few of my own opinions into the ring for you all to chew on. > http://apple.weblogsinc.com/entry/7391864753130518/ I think Skype is goin to see competition in the market in near future ... new competitors like dingotel.com will make the these VOIP based services improved better. ------------------------------ From: Gary Novosielski Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Start the Day Right! Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 19:17:49 GMT TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > That's not how my Windows 2000 or Windows 98 operates. [...] If > there is more than one file in the recycle bin then it says "Are you > sure you wish to get rid of these (number) files?". Must be some pirate version. My Win2KPro says "Are you sure you wish to delete all of the items in the recycle bin?" No {number of items} unless you only select some of them rather than empty the entire bin. Particularly no use of the words "get rid of", without which the joke isn't even a joke. Look again PAT, does it really say "get rid of" or "delete"? The original joke was to "get rid of" George W. Bush, which at least makes sense since he's the incumbent. Somebody changed it without keeping the humor intact. It's like a few weeks back, after the Dem convention in Boston, someone circulated a list of Kerryisms that were really recycled Bushisms, half of which were actually Dan Quayleisms. Besides, if you cause your computer to ask "Do you want to delete George W. Bush" then under the Patriot Act, you can be arrested, thrown in a cage down in Gitmo, and sodomized with a Cheyney bobblehead doll. So, my advice is don't try that at home. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are right, it must be a pirate copy of Win-2000; I'd rather take my chances with Microsoft any day than Bush when it came to offending one or the other. As to which one is *worst* -- who presumably the original joke was written for -- Kerry or Bush, in the past I would have said vote for Kerry to help deny another term for Bush, but that's like voting for the lesser of two evils. I have decided to do the *right* thing this time, and vote my conscience rather than for expedience, so I will vote for Badnarik and hope enough other people feel the same way to make a real difference. All of you are invited to 'cast your votes' for whomever by going to my web site http://kerry-or-bush-2004.us.tt to read and write what you think should happen. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #431 ******************************