The Tech Record

I have been putting sites together for several years now.  During that time I have been through several different hosts.  As of now the best host I have found is HostGator.  I used GoDaddy hosting for a while but got fed up with their control panel.  Why can’t they just use cPanel?!?!?!?  I then switched to BlueHost.  I liked those guys, but I didn’t like having to pay for several months at a time.  Then recently (within the past year) I found out about HostGator.  I really like these guys.  They use cPanel and Fantastico, and I don’t have to pay for several months at a time.

Just a quick post today.  I added a blogroll to the side of this blog.  If you have a site that you would like a link to, just post a comment (under this post) with your address.  The only thing I ask in return is that you put a link back to me.

Many people who set up there Broadband Modems for the first time wonder if they should use a USB cable or a Cat5 cable to connect the modem to their computer.  In my option, the Cat5 ethernet cable approach is the best way for connecting.  The main reason I believe this is because Cat5 cables were built for networking.  USB stands for Universal Serial Bus.  USB, because it is “universal” is used for transfer many types of data between several types of devices.  I, traditionally, prefer design that is specific.Another reason to use Cat5 is that USB needs software (obviously on a computer) to translate the the data coming over the USB cable from the modem into usable network data.  In other words you can’t attach an USB cable directly to a router or other network appliance.  This makes sharing the connection with other devices (computer, xboxes, etc.) very difficult. 

The FCC is currently designing a nationwide text message (SMS) alert system to warn citizens about terrorist attacks, and the such…  It will be optional for carriers to join, but for any of them to not join would be highly unlikely.

[VIA: Gizmodo]

Sounds like a rip-off to me… According to officials at MTV, Microsoft is designing sometype of wii-mote like device for their Xbox 360 video game system. It will supposedly use the same IR bar like the Wii.
[Via: Techeblog]

Recently some European airline carriers have started to allow passengers aboard to place cell phone calls while in the air.  The British FCC Equivalent, recently approved all non-3G phone calls.  However accross the Atlantic it is still illegal to palce calls while aboard American planes.  This due to the airline companies assumption that passengers will become too chatty and annoy the other passengers.  Another question that many people hearing this story will ask is, how will I get a signal when I’m a mile in the sky.  The key is pico-cell technology.  The pico-cell is a small reciever that acts as a repeater between you (the airline passenger) and the ground.  According to Popular Mechanics the pico-cell technology reduces interference and provides a better connection with the ground.

It is being reported that Yahoo has announced that they are trying to figure out a way to tie your inbox in with your social networking site of choice… The only reason it scares me is that I am curious as too how much information my friends from the social networking site will be able to see. I’ve have always seen my email as a place for private conversations…

At CES this morning AT&T executives blatantly stated that they will start filtering internet content. Obviously they have not looked around, and seen that this WILL hurt their business.

So what is the big deal? If the ‘net does not remain neutral, we will lose all kinds of freedoms that we currently have. Here is what http://www.savetheinternet.com (One of the leaders in campaigns to keep the ‘net neutral) is saying about what we will lose:

What’s at stake if we lose Net Neutrality?

The consequences of a world without Net Neutrality would be devastating. Innovation would be stifled, competition limited, and access to information restricted. Consumer choice and the free market would be sacrificed to the interests of a few corporate executives.

On the Internet, consumers are in ultimate control ? deciding between content, applications and services available anywhere, no matter who owns the network. There’s no middleman. But without Net Neutrality, the Internet will look more like cable TV. Network owners will decide which channels, content and applications are available; consumers will have to choose from their menu.

The free and open Internet brings with it the revolutionary possibility that any Internet site could have the reach of a TV or radio station. The loss of Net Neutrality would end this unparalleled opportunity for freedom of expression.

The Internet has always been driven by innovation. Web sites and services succeeded or failed on their own merit. Without Net Neutrality, decisions now made collectively by millions of users will be made in corporate boardrooms. The choice we face now is whether we can choose the content and services we want, or whether the broadband barons will choose for us.

Microsoft officials are saying that if the HD-DVD format (that they are currently backing) does not win the format war, it would be technically possible for them to release a Blu-Ray player.  This would obviously be in the form of an external drive plugged into one of Xbox 360’s USB ports.

It is being reported by Tech Crunch that Skype experienced an outage a few days ago because of “a massive restart of user’s computers” that happened after recieving a Windows Update. It happened just after “Patch Tuesday” which is Microsoft’s day of the month to release patches for it’s Windows Operating System. This usually results in reboots by the following Thursday.

Skype’s Heartbeat Blog says, “The high number of restarts affected Skype’s network resources. This caused a flood of log-in requests, which, combined with the lack of peer-to-peer network resources, prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact.”

They also wanted to thank their supportive users!