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The Telecom Digest for June 09, 2010
Volume 29 : Issue 155 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Test How Fast You Juggle Tasks (Monty Solomon)
Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price (Monty Solomon)
Re: Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price (T)
More Americans Sense a Downside to an Always Plugged-In Existence (Monty Solomon)
An Ugly Toll of Technology: Impatience and Forgetfulness (Monty Solomon)
Re: Going through Modems (GlowingBlueMist)
Re: Going through Modems (GlowingBlueMist)
Thrifty Wi-Fi That Travels With You (Monty Solomon)
App Makers Worry as Data Plans Are Capped (Monty Solomon)
Prisoner of iTunes - the iPad file transfer horror (Monty Solomon)
WWDC 2010 Keynote Address (Monty Solomon)
punched card images (Michael Grigoni)
Re: Going through Modems (Scott Dorsey)
Re: DSL and filters for old phones--question (Wesrock)
====== 28 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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against crime. Geoffrey Welsh
===========================
See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer, and other stuff of interest.
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2010 21:56:25 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Test How Fast You Juggle Tasks
Message-ID: <p06240822c83351c43ce8@[10.0.1.3]>
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/07/technology/20100607-task-switching-demo.html
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2010 21:56:25 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price
Message-ID: <p0624081fc8334d883e53@[10.0.1.3]>
Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price
By MATT RICHTEL
The New York Times
June 6, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO - When one of the most important e-mail messages of his
life landed in his in-box a few years ago, Kord Campbell overlooked
it.
Not just for a day or two, but 12 days. He finally saw it while
sifting through old messages: a big company wanted to buy his
Internet start-up.
"I stood up from my desk and said, 'Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,'
" Mr. Campbell said. "It's kind of hard to miss an e-mail like that,
but I did."
The message had slipped by him amid an electronic flood: two computer
screens alive with e-mail, instant messages, online chats, a Web
browser and the computer code he was writing. (View an interactive
panorama of Mr. Campbell's workstation.)
While he managed to salvage the $1.3 million deal after apologizing
to his suitor, Mr. Campbell continues to struggle with the effects of
the deluge of data. Even after he unplugs, he craves the stimulation
he gets from his electronic gadgets. He forgets things like dinner
plans, and he has trouble focusing on his family.
His wife, Brenda, complains, "It seems like he can no longer be fully
in the moment."
This is your brain on computers.
Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming
information can change how people think and behave. They say our
ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information.
These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate
opportunities and threats. The stimulation provokes excitement - a
dopamine squirt - that researchers say can be addictive. In its
absence, people feel bored.
The resulting distractions can have deadly consequences, as when
cellphone-wielding drivers and train engineers cause wrecks. And for
millions of people like Mr. Campbell, these urges can inflict nicks
and cuts on creativity and deep thought, interrupting work and family
life.
While many people say multitasking makes them more productive,
research shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers actually have more
trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists
say, and they experience more stress.
And scientists are discovering that even after the multitasking ends,
fractured thinking and lack of focus persist. In other words, this is
also your brain off computers.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html?pagewanted=print
***** Moderator's Note *****
This is your Moderator - on a slow day.
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 16:17:53 -0400
From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price
Message-ID: <MPG.26786f7a4adbb623989ce4@news.eternal-september.org>
In article <p0624081fc8334d883e53@[10.0.1.3]>, monty@roscom.com says...
> SAN FRANCISCO - When one of the most important e-mail messages of his
> life landed in his in-box a few years ago, Kord Campbell overlooked
> it.
>
> Not just for a day or two, but 12 days. He finally saw it while
> sifting through old messages: a big company wanted to buy his
> Internet start-up.
>
> "I stood up from my desk and said, 'Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,'
> " Mr. Campbell said. "It's kind of hard to miss an e-mail like that,
> but I did."
>
>
If you want to be an effective email person you need to do the
following. Keep a clear inbox. Create folders for things you wish to
keep, things to be acted on, etc. And handle appropriately.
Took me many years to move to that scheme.
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2010 21:56:25 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: More Americans Sense a Downside to an Always Plugged-In Existence
Message-ID: <p06240826c83353599bd9@[10.0.1.3]>
More Americans Sense a Downside to an Always Plugged-In Existence
By MARJORIE CONNELLY
The New York Times
June 6, 2010
While most Americans say devices like smartphones, cellphones and
personal computers have made their lives better and their jobs
easier, some say they have been intrusive, increased their levels of
stress and made it difficult to concentrate, according to a New York
Times/CBS News poll.
Younger people are particularly affected: almost 30 percent of those
under 45 said the use of these devices made it harder to focus, while
less than 10 percent of older users agreed.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brainpoll.html?pagewanted=print
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2010 21:56:25 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: An Ugly Toll of Technology: Impatience and Forgetfulness
Message-ID: <p06240820c8334e266383@[10.0.1.3]>
An Ugly Toll of Technology: Impatience and Forgetfulness
By TARA PARKER-POPE
The New York Times
June 6, 2010
Are your Facebook friends more interesting than those you have in
real life?
Has high-speed Internet made you impatient with slow-speed children?
Do you sometimes think about reaching for the fast-forward button,
only to realize that life does not come with a remote control?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, exposure to technology
may be slowly reshaping your personality. Some experts believe
excessive use of the Internet, cellphones and other technologies can
cause us to become more impatient, impulsive, forgetful and even more
narcissistic.
"More and more, life is resembling the chat room," says Dr. Elias
Aboujaoude, director of the Impulse Control Disorders Clinic at
Stanford. "We're paying a price in terms of our cognitive life
because of this virtual lifestyle."
We do spend a lot of time with our devices, and some studies have
suggested that excessive dependence on cellphones and the Internet is
akin to an addiction. Web sites like NetAddiction.com offer
self-assessment tests to determine if technology has become a drug.
Among the questions used to identify those at risk: Do you neglect
housework to spend more time online? Are you frequently checking your
e-mail? Do you often lose sleep because you log in late at night? If
you answered "often" or "always," technology may be taking a toll on
you.
In a study to be published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior
and Social Networking, researchers from the University of Melbourne
in Australia subjected 173 college students to tests measuring risk
for problematic Internet and gambling behaviors. About 5 percent of
the students showed signs of gambling problems, but 10 percent of the
students posted scores high enough to put them in the at-risk
category for Internet "addiction."
Technology use was clearly interfering with the students' daily
lives, but it may be going too far to call it an addiction, says
Nicki Dowling, a clinical psychologist who led the study. Ms. Dowling
prefers to call it "Internet dependence."
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brainside.html?pagewanted=print
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:21:11 -0500
From: GlowingBlueMist <GlowingBlueMist@truely.invalid.dotsrc.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Going through Modems
Message-ID: <4c0da919$0$273$14726298@news.sunsite.dk>
On 6/7/2010 5:14 PM, schmerold2@gmail.com wrote:
> I have been going through dial-up modems every couple of months, when
> the modem goes, I can connect to Internet, however none of the other
> phones get dial-tone unless, I physically remove phone cable from the
> computer.
>
> I am thinking there is a bad ground somewhere, but not sure how to
> correct. What say the telcom oracles?
>
From my BBS days I vaguely remember an optional command that could be
used in the modem command string. It was used to force modems to
terminate a call on lines that would not drop loop current properly at a
call termination. Symptom is just what you describe, the modem ends a
connection but the phone line is not released for use by others. The
modem is not detecting the loop current drop when the modem call ends
and so stays "off hook" regardless of what the other end does.
The actual command eludes my memory but it would force the modem to
release the line regardless of the loop current condition at call
termination. I remember not all modems supported the "extended" command
but those that did it would stop (and mask) the problem.
Hopefully someone here will have the actual command sequence at hand for
you but I seem to remember it may have been an S register
True it does not fix the possible phone line condition causing the
problem but it will force the modem to stop being a part of it.
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:36:59 -0500
From: GlowingBlueMist <glowingbluemist@truely.invalid>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Going through Modems
Message-ID: <4c0e9bdc$0$77543$892e0abb@auth.newsreader.octanews.com>
On 6/7/2010 9:21 PM, GlowingBlueMist wrote:
> On 6/7/2010 5:14 PM, schmerold2@gmail.com wrote:
>> I have been going through dial-up modems every couple of months, when
>> the modem goes, I can connect to Internet, however none of the other
>> phones get dial-tone unless, I physically remove phone cable from the
>> computer.
>>
>> I am thinking there is a bad ground somewhere, but not sure how to
>> correct. What say the telcom oracles?
>>
> From my BBS days I vaguely remember an optional command that could be
> used in the modem command string. It was used to force modems to
> terminate a call on lines that would not drop loop current properly at a
> call termination. Symptom is just what you describe, the modem ends a
> connection but the phone line is not released for use by others. The
> modem is not detecting the loop current drop when the modem call ends
> and so stays "off hook" regardless of what the other end does.
>
> The actual command eludes my memory but it would force the modem to
> release the line regardless of the loop current condition at call
> termination. I remember not all modems supported the "extended" command
> but those that did it would stop (and mask) the problem.
>
> Hopefully someone here will have the actual command sequence at hand for
> you but I seem to remember it may have been an S register
>
> True it does not fix the possible phone line condition causing the
> problem but it will force the modem to stop being a part of it.
>
I just realized the modems I was using on the old BBS were industrial
grade modems from Motorola which may have had many more options than the
routine store bought models. It helped that I was working for them at
the time and had free access to use them on the BBS provided I would
give them feedback on how they worked at my place.
Now on with the show...
I can think of one test that would help eliminate or identify an
internal house wiring problem, if your line has a modern telephone
demark. The kind with the little rj11 jack you remove and can plug in a
telephone to get a direct connection to the phone line.
What I would do is wire a rj11 jack into one of those surface mount
phone jacks, the kind that accept two male rj11's. Wire both female
jacks in parallel so that the common male rj11 can be used for both
connections. Yes, just your basic phone line splitter. A store bought
splitter can be used provided it is able to be plugged into the
telephone line interface box provided it is not one of those Line 1 and
Line 2 kind that look for two actual phone lines (numbers using the same
common rj11.
Then plug a phone into one side and your modem into the other (you may
need a long rj11 to rj11 phone cable) and plug the male rj11 of the
splitter directly into the phone interface. Try using the modem to call
the internet and then terminate the call and then see if the phone on
the splitter can draw a dial tone. If the problem goes away while using
this rig you most likely have an internal wiring problem. If the
problem persists then it's either your modem/phone still causing the
problem or most likely a phone line problem for telco to fix.
Last remove the setup and test again with your normal house phone jacks
to verify the problem is still there. Would not be the first time just
reseating a jack or moving wires has "cleared" the problem.
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2010 22:44:03 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Thrifty Wi-Fi That Travels With You
Message-ID: <p06240829c8335e9b3f4f@[10.0.1.3]>
Thrifty Wi-Fi That Travels With You
By THOMAS J. FITZGERALD
The New York Times
June 2, 2010
Wi-Fi is everywhere.
Or so it seems until you really need it and there is no coffee house
with a free hot spot. Or when you don't want to pay a fee to connect
at the airport or a hotel for an hour.
Our pockets and bags are filling with Web-connected devices: laptops,
smartphones, netbooks, tablets, e-readers and even cameras. But to
connect one when Wi-Fi is not available means using a cellphone
network, and that usually requires buying a new data plan for each
device.
The cost-cutting solution might be to create your own Wi-Fi hot spot,
a cloud of Internet connectivity for wherever you go. Not only can a
personal hot spot provide a single point of access for all of your
devices, it can be shared with friends.
The options are growing. You can buy a simple, slim unit that fits in
a pocket or ones that can shift from 3G to speedier 4G networks. You
can convert some cellphones into hot spots, while a few new phones
now come with hot spots included. I tried several such options while
traveling and in my daily routine to see what they offered.
The Novatel MiFi 2200, available from Verizon Wireless ($29.99 with a
two-year contract) or Sprint (free after $50 rebate and with a
two-year contract), is a Wi-Fi hot spot small enough to slip into a
shirt pocket. It is a mysterious-looking object with no screen and a
single button.
It wirelessly connects to a 3G cellular network just like a phone,
but it also broadcasts a Wi-Fi signal to the surrounding area.
Devices within a 30-foot range can connect. I used the MiFi while
traveling by car from Boston to New York. Having the coverage brought
peace of mind when using Google Maps on my iPod Touch and my laptop
to guide me around Brooklyn.
Still, 3G speeds can be slower than what is available at land-based
hot spots. Back at home, downloading my daughter's favorite videos
was faster on our home wireless network.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/technology/personaltech/03basics.html
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2010 22:53:43 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: App Makers Worry as Data Plans Are Capped
Message-ID: <p0624082bc83360c9c238@[10.0.1.3]>
App Makers Worry as Data Plans Are Capped
By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER and BRAD STONE
The New York Times
June 6, 2010
For the last two years, unlimited data plans have given app-hungry
smartphone users an all-you-can-eat buffet. But will customers react
to AT&T's new, limited menu by simply eating less?
Some software developers fear they will, and if that happens, the
caps on data use that AT&T has imposed could also make consumers lose
their appetite for the latest innovations. Some developers worry that
customers will be reluctant to download and use the most
bandwidth-intensive apps and that developers will cut back on
innovative new features that would push customers over the new limits.
"What created this lively app world we are in was the iPhone on one
hand, and unlimited data plans on the other," said Noam Bardin, chief
executive of Waze, which offers turn-by-turn driving directions. "If
people start thinking about how big a file is, or how fast an
application is refreshing, that will be a huge inhibitor."
New features on phones encourage more data use and vice versa. The
next version of the iPhone, set to debut on Monday at Apple's
Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, will include a
second, front-facing video camera, according to leaked reports. That
could conceivably allow developers like Skype to offer face-to-face
video calls from phones - a service that is much more data-intensive.
AT&T, the second-largest carrier in the United States after Verizon
Wireless, will move to tiered pricing on Monday and will no longer
offer new smartphone buyers a simple $30 plan for unlimited data use.
Customers will have to estimate how much data they are likely to use
on their phone, buy an appropriate plan and then make sure not to
exceed their limits.
AT&T and some developers say that the new data plans could have the
opposite effect and increase data usage by making it more affordable
for most people.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07data.html
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 07:43:01 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Prisoner of iTunes - the iPad file transfer horror
Message-ID: <p0624083dc833dd0f66f5@[10.0.1.3]>
Prisoner of iTunes - the iPad file transfer horror
The conflict between consumption and productivity
By John Lettice
The Register
7 June 2010
First the good news - it's light, compact, reasonably capable for
typing, and it has enough battery life for you not to be forever
worrying about where your next power socket's coming from. These
advantages alone are sufficient for me to take the iPad seriously for
note-taking and for document viewing and manipulation, and to stop
using the MacBook Air as the thing I carry around all the time.
You can check out, but you can't leave
But the bad news is that - in this iteration at least - the iPad is a
conflicted machine. It's a media consumption device, and if it's just
that it's an expensive one. Not that Steve Jobs is likely to go broke
by selling expensive toys, as the sales figures remind us. But
alongside this it has a capability as a productivity tool, and it's
here that the problems start to tumble out. That doesn't mean it
doesn't have a value there, but it does mean that it has considerable
potential to become an infuriating device to use.
So let's look at the infuriation: exchanging files, the iTunes
tether, and the iPad's status as a big iPhone that can't make phone
calls. These are all related. Apple won't let you anywhere near the
iPad file system, and each app on the iPad has its own storage space.
So if you've been using a file with one app, there's no way you can
use it with another app without exporting it and then importing it
into the other app. And how do you import and export?
...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/07/ipad_file_transfer/
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 07:43:01 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: WWDC 2010 Keynote Address
Message-ID: <p0624083ec833dd346f9e@[10.0.1.3]>
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc10/
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2010 09:29:04 -0500
From: Michael Grigoni <michael.grigoni@cybertheque.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: punched card images
Message-ID: <4C0E543E.14138.7063DAE@msg.cybertheque.org>
The website of an Internet email<->fax gateway service is using images of
punched cards on its pages; this one is germane to this list:
http://www.clickfax.com/images/topImage_left_2.gif
Other types of cards can be seen by altering the digit to the left of '.gif'
in the URL [1 -> n, n <= '15']
Michael
Date: 8 Jun 2010 15:28:51 -0400
From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Going through Modems
Message-ID: <hum5lj$abo$1@panix2.panix.com>
schmerold2@gmail.com <schmerold2@gmail.com> wrote:
>I have been going through dial-up modems every couple of months, when
>the modem goes, I can connect to Internet, however none of the other
>phones get dial-tone unless, I physically remove phone cable from the
>computer.
>
>I am thinking there is a bad ground somewhere, but not sure how to
>correct. What say the telcom oracles?
The modem is not going off-hook and is pulling down the line so the line
appears off-hook. If this is a quality modem, it will have MOVs and
protection diodes on the incoming line. Check them to find out which one
is shorted or leaky.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 10:38:14 EDT
From: Wesrock@aol.com
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: DSL and filters for old phones--question
Message-ID: <152ab.604955ff.393fafd6@aol.com>
In a message dated 6/7/2010 7:10:54 PM Central Daylight Time,
SPAMpot@Frontiernet.net writes:
On 6/6/2010 5:37 PM, David Kaye wrote:
<snip>
>> Here is a schematic of the Model 500 Bell phone. Note that it has
>> red, green, and yellow wires (and no black at all). The arrow
>> points to the place where the ringer wire had been separated out to
>> the yellow wire during party line service, but for private line
>> service it is merged onto the green wire and the yellow is no longer
>> connected to anything.
>>
>> http://www.porticus.org/bell/pdf/500_modification.pdf
> Very interesting diagram. It probably represents what was used in our
> area.
>
> The party line ringers used a small vacuum-tube type of relay as part
> of the ringer decoding scheme. I still have a ringer around here in
> my archives that was left over from the 'old days'. Probably could
> take another look at it.
I imagine the schematic is from a Bell System Pratice (BSP) used by
all Bell System Companies and also followed by many non-Bell
companies.
The vacuum tube or diode was only used on phones on four-party lines
to provide full selective ringing. It served no pupose on two-party
lines and, as an extra cost to the company, was not provided on phones
on two-party lines, or for that matter, for phones on four-party lines
in offices which used divided code rining.
Wes Leatherock
wesrock@aol.com
wleathus@yahoo.com
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End of The Telecom Digest (14 messages)
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