J-Files - how did I miss this site? Has RSS/XML, which is good. What else? It's obviously a lawyer site, but I wonder what sort of lawyer and where he or she is. And they've already added Camera Lucida to their blogroll. Hmmm...
9:35:55 PM
Is "Windows" too common a name to get a trademark? - I didn't know about the lawsuit and the judge's comments until I read this article about Microsoft threatening legal action against an enthusiast. Windows does seem to be too generic to get a trademark. Wonder what Marty Schwimmer thinks...
8:33:33 PM
Today's wireless networking stumper - Okay, it looks like the wireless network with Bridge is in the paranormal mode. For those of you who are playing along at home, here are today's clues. The desktop computer is hard connected to the router (which of course is connected to the Cable modem). The router is physically connected to one WAP. Downstairs we've got the wireless bridge that's supposed to pick up the signal from the upstairs WAP, and pass it along to the downstairs WAP, which it is physically connected to. So in theory everything should "see" and be able to talk to everything else.
From my laptop, or the main computer, I can view the DHCP table on the router. It says there are four devices with IP addresses (main computer, my laptop, and two WAPs). No Bridge on the list (first bad sign). Using those IP addresses, from my laptop I can ping one of the WAPs and the router, but not the main computer or the other WAP. From the main computer (which is hard-wired via CAT 5 cable to the router) I can't ping anything, not even the router that it is physically attached to. Very strange. But here's the really spooky part: I can access the router's configuration utility by entering its IP address in a browser. So I can't ping it, but I can access it and configure it. Go figure.
But that's just odd paranormal behavior that I can tolerate as long as my expanded wireless kingdom is working. It was yesterday evening. Or so it seemed.
It appears that my dream of a extending my wireless network by using a Bridge has again been cut down. I just wandered downstairs with my laptop to test it out, but it didn't seem to pick up the signal from the downstairs WAP. So I told the wireless card to "rescan" for a signal and it happily picked up a strong signal, followed by a flurry of notifications of an IP conflict on my network.
One would have to surmise that it's the Bridge that is creating a conflict, but I don't know what IP address it has and the only way I can find out is to access the Bridge's configuration utility. How does one do that? From last night's lesson with Linksys support I learned that I had to (1) plug Bridge into open router port; (2) manually reassign a certain IP address to desktop computer; and (3) then enter the default IP address for the Bridge. I thought when I had I told the Bridge to pick up its IP address using DHCP, but maybe it didn't listen. In any case the default IP address of the Bridge wasn't any of the IP addresses that are in the router's table. So where's the conflict coming from? Who knows. I guess I shouldn't have been rude to that nice guy from "Save the Children" who knocked on the door (see prior post).
I'm guess I'm going to go for a walk to calm myself down. Then I'm going to call Linksys support, which is always an adventure. Once I got to talk to a guy in the Phillipines, who did a fantastic job of reading the checklist to me. Apparently, even though there aren't a lot of 802.11 networks in the Phillipines it's a great place to recruit tech-support people. On second thought, maybe I'll enter a Triatholon and then call tech-support....
7:05:23 PM
Porn Law News Flash - A federal judge ordered an Internet porn pusher to pay Pamela Anderson and ex-husband Tommy Lee $741,000 for marketing the couple’s famous sex video without their permission, officials said yesterday...more on story
5:20:13 PM
All the news that's fit to aggregate - another nice article by Morgan Wilson about news aggregators. Where's the article? You can pick one up from your grocer's shelves.
4:18:51 PM
Walter & Me - yeah, me and Walter Mossberg are kind of neck and neck. What the hell am I talking about? Well, my referers show that someone did a Yahoo search (aka Google search) for "sprint + treo + corporate + e-mail." Mossberg's review of the Treo came up first in the search results. But I came up second. And, unlike Avis, I'm not even going to pretend to tell you that I'm trying harder.
Do weblogs matter more than mainstream journalism? Maybe not yet, but then again maybe so. Somewhere out there is a guy who ran a Yahoo/Google search that might be able to tell us his opinion. Not that it matters, I suppose. He or she is just one person. But then again the web is just a bunch of small pieces loosely joined, or so someone once said.
2:06:18 PM
Bridge over troubled waters - Say, did you know that you can use a Linksys "bridge" to extend the reach of your wireless network? Well, I found out yesterday --the hard way-- that you can. Or so it seems (I may come home tonight to find that the whole thing has fallen apart). Don't ask the guys at Linksys, though. They think their wireless bridge is just a device for hooking up an Xbox to a wireless network. What I did was hook the bridge to a WAP to increase the coverage downstairs in my house.
One funny moment came from the mayhem that surrounded my attempt to make this effort work. The doorbell rang right as I was on the verge (so I thought) of finally pulling the rabbit out of the hat, or parting the Red Sea or whatever. A guy was standing at the door. I figured it must be a delivery guy so I'm thinking I'll take the package, sign for it and he'll go away and I can return to my laboratory. Turns out it was a guy from "Save the Children". Rapid sigh. I was annoyed but I couldn't come up with a diplomatic way to make him go away quickly. Before I could think of something mildly politic to say my mouth blurted out "we're not interested." They guy looked dumb-founded. "Not interested? But I'm from ...." Yeah, I know, I said. We're not interested.
Then I went back upstairs and received the wrath of God that I deserved. After several hours of atonement I got the devices to do what I wanted --despite what the marginally competent Linksys tech-support representative who was very good at reading from the set troubleshooting checklist said.
11:44:31 AM
Small thoughts on the law - I was driving along listening to a radio interview of someone who didn't like some law that was being passed to incentivize people to do something or other, and it crossed my mind that many people think of laws as "prohibitory" decrees. Thou shalt not commit heinous acts etc. But a lot (and, in this country, I mean a really lot) of laws are passed to cause people to act in ways that the government thinks is beneficial. Tax laws are notorious for this.
So what difference does that make? I don't know. It's just something to think about when you are driving around. The law doesn't just define the bounds of acceptable social behavior. It creates economic incentives to act in certain ways that the government, in all of its delphic wisdom, thinks are good for the country as a whole. I don't know about you, but that gives me all kinds of warm feelings. Maybe that means it's time to change my diapers.
11:28:33 AM
Who's that guy with the Accordian? - Well, it's Accordian Guy, and he has musical superpowers and a pretty interesting weblog.
11:19:59 AM
First I spam, then I burgle - BoingBoing reports that thieves are buying up spam lists looking for autoresponders that say "I'm out of town." I've often wondered if it is a good idea for bloggers to blithely announce an upcoming vacation. Perhaps the burglars aren't hip to blogging yet, but it's only a matter of time.
