Koozie Notes

Great Memorial Day Story

Dan Gillmor is correct. This WSJ story was well written and patriotic.

-Chris

Fall of the Itiot

If you provide any kind of computer support at work or for family and friends, you should read "The Fall of the Itiot" by Mark Gibbs.

If their PCs get messed up, it shouldn't be a complete mystery to them. They should have a clue and know how to get their machines fixed. Should they know how to manipulate registry settings? No. Should they know what defragging a disk means? Yes. Should they be capable of writing applications? No. Should they be able to create macros in Word? Yes.

Slashdot covered a similar story titled, "Programming for Terrified Adults." I would like to see some company try to implement some of these ideas. I would also be interested to see their lessons plans.

-Chris

GasBuddy

Gasbuddy looks like a pretty good site to compare the cost of gas in your area.

Via Paul McNamara.

-Chris

RTX: Rapid Thermal Exchange

While driving home from dinner, I was listening to the Clark Howard Show on the radio. Clark was talking about this personal A/C unit that cools the body using RTX, Rapid Thermal Exchange technology.

When Clark's wife was pregnant with their now four-year-old, she would get very uncomfortable on hot days to the point where it was almost unbearable. Clark saw an ad for a personal air-conditioner and went to the mall to buy it. It didn’t work, but now someone has invented one that does. The only difference is that it costs about $4,000 more than the one Clark bought. Avacor Technologies has designed a new personal air conditioning unit called “Core Control” that is becoming huge among pro sports teams and athletes. Basically, you put your arm into this device and in five minutes, you are cool. It uses the palm of your hand as a direct pathway to the body’s core. It uses RTX or Rapid Thermal Exchange, and it has the ability to cool you down and give you more stamina. Two professors from Stanford University developed the device, and the U.S. Olympic Committee is now using it.

Looks like this RTX device has been tested by a few sports teams.

-Chris

Phone Hacking

During lunch, the topic of American Idol came up. I asked if anyone heard of any stories where someone was caught using custom hardware/software to increase the number of phone votes. Tonight, I stumbled on to a article discussing the same thing.

Now there are reports that hackers are messing with the system. They're using a combination of auto-dialing hardware and software that ranges from homegrown applications to souped-up old BBS dial-up software like Procomm to dial in and vote in record numbers for perhaps the worst performers in the group. The software apparently helps them overcome whatever technological safeguards the show has in place to prevent people from voting more than once. Some believe they are also using hardware like the automatic phone dialer PowerDialer ($248) to beat busy signals. It can dial the same number up to 25 times per minute. It's just a TV show, I know, but the competition matters to these young talents, and this chicanery has apparently resulted in some less-than-stellar singers sticking around for way too long.

-Chris

PowerDialer

Internal Company Blogging

Chad Dickerson shares his experiences with internal blogs at InfoWorld.

Posting this plan on a Weblog made three key things happen. First, it forced the team to strategically organize its IT initiatives into a coherent roadmap fit for broader internal consumption. Next, it created a sense of accountability for these initiatives within the IT team because we had collectively agreed on the initiatives and documented the process. Finally, posting our plan for the entire company to see helped foster a sense of accountability to our non-IT colleagues within the company.

Chad posts his thoughts on internal blogging as well.

-Chris

Spyware Removal Tools

Like most IT professionals, I try to help out employees with their questions about the home PC(s). Most of the time, I get asked about setting up small home networks and printer sharing. Lately, I'm getting requests on how to prevent the flood of annoying pop up ads.

So far, I've been recommending two spyware removal tools, Adaware and Spybot. Both seem to do a pretty decent job of cleaning up PCs.

-Chris

Interesting Links:

http://cc.uoregon.edu/cnews/summer2003/spybot.html
http://www.thundercloud.net/infoave/spyware/index2.htm

Hit and Run

What do you do when someone crashes into your vehicle and leaves the scene?

Answer: Post a web site, Bitch Hit My Truck

-Chris

Rolling 9-11

A friend sent me some pictures of the Rolling 9-11 memorial, an 18-wheeler with an extensive paint job. Definitely worth a look.

-Chris

Woz to Keynote at Geeks Gone Wild

Chris Pirillo reports that WOZ will be the keynote speaker at "Geeks Gone Wild", formerly known as Gnomedex. My favorite Woz story is the one where he creates his own blue box.

-Chris