I just bought a new Time Capsule and an Airport Extreme. Both are the newfangled dual-band type. At the moment the AEX is the main base station, connected to my DSL modem in the Living Room. The TC extends the AEX network and is in my office.

The instructions suggest the TC should not be a network client and rather be the main base station, and to make the AEX extend the network. How much difference will there be in Time Machine performance between the two topologies?

I would really prefer having the TC in my office, so I can attach via gigabit ethernet to the TC when I'm working there with my MBP. I cannot move the DSL modem to my office since I don't have a phone line there (it's really an upstairs bedroom).

Christopher Dawson, a contributor on ZDNet, wrote an article about the closing of Pirate Bay, which I otherwise would have had no opinion about, except that the number of stories about Pirate Bay, coming on the heels of the trial of its owners, is astounding.

If I did not know better, I would think that Pirate Bay was still in business, and that people writing these stories were getting ad revenue from them.

His article cites the work of another writer on PCWorld magazine. Beyond this cross-pollenation of ideas and recognition, something not usually observed on those sites, I find that both authors take an approach that misses a large part of the situation.

As I have more time on the planet, I feel I am in a better position to assess things of a certain quality, much more than those who have been around, and observing for less time.

There are people who simply don’t want to pay for things. That notion has always been around, and will probably always be. But there are also those who see things as in two categories, worth payment, and not worth it. There are many things being offered that are simply not worth what is asked for them. Some would say that the way to deal with that is to not use those things. I agree.

An anonymous user on ZDNet doesn’t think so -

The only people who think the Pirate Bay and Jammie Thomas verdicts and the sale of the Pirate Bay signal a tipping point where “Don’t Copy That Floppy” embodies a philosophy that kids take to heart are the kind of people who think Twitter is taking over the interwebs.

Others are simply not going to behave in the fashion that society at large deems appropriate, and feel that things not worth the money can be pirated, and in doing so perhaps the purveyors will get the notion to lower the price, or increase the usefulness.

The problem is exacerbated by the reports that certain companies, such as Microsoft, will vary pricing for its own purposes, and yet everyone is not allowed to benefit from these variances. The case my mind goes to immediately is the one, widely reported, where Microsoft allowed pirating of Windows XP in China, simply to thwart adoption rates of Linux. Other reports of legitimate copies of XP being sold for $3, make those in this country wonder why no such offer is being made here. Something along the lines of a statement by Microsoft, and the sale of Windows XP at a very low price, genuine, but without the direct customer support, would cause much of the pirating of Windows to end.

Certainly there would be those, as stated above, who would always pirate, but there would be boatloads of people who would purchase a copy of XP, knowing that no one will be coming to the door, and all of the benefits of other legitimate users would be theirs, such as trips to the Microsoft updates, and other downloads.

I wonder what the prospective differences in revenue would be, under those terms. A large portion of the population will still buy Windows, or any other software, and those who wish to self support will get a large discount. The software purveyor makes more money in total, but has to sacrifice a smidge on average per copy price.

Who loses here? Companies could remove the copy protection mechanisms, which, by and large, don’t work, and let the people involved in their development be put to use elsewhere. Groups such as the Business Software Alliance could be reduced or disbanded. We would, if the ones involved did not let thoughts of greed overtake sensibility, pay less for better software, and the providers would, in total, make more money.

To reiterate - since we will not be changing the masses any time soon, we should consider that lowering prices may generate more dollars, by honest use of many more people.

When considering the loss of Pirate Bay as a source, no one should be too quick to assume that any sort of major change will take place. Other places will spring up, it is inevitable.

§

Technorati Tags: Pirate Bay,sale of resources,software costs,profitability,user discontent,piracy,legitimate usage,overpriced software,useless copyright protection schemes

Quote of the day:

In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

On This Day

July 3

(lots of things happened…)

1608 - The city of Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain.

1775 - U.S. Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, MA.

1790 - In Paris, the marquis of Condorcet proposed granting civil rights to women.

1844 - Ambassador Caleb Cushing successfully negotiated a commercial treaty with China that opened five Chinese ports to U.S. merchants and protected the rights of American citizens in China.

1863 - The U.S. Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, PA, ended after three days. It was a major victory for the North as Confederate troops retreated.

1871 - The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company introduced the first narrow-gauge locomotive. It was called the “Montezuma.”

1878 - John Wise flew the first dirigible in Lancaster, PA.

1880 - “Science” began publication. Thomas Edison had provided the principle funding.

1890 - Idaho became the 43rd state to join the United States of America.

1898 - During the Spanish American War, a fleet of Spanish ships in Cuba’s Santiago Harbor attempted to run a blockade of U.S. naval forces. Nearly all of the Spanish ships were destroyed in the battle that followed.

1901 - The Wild Bunch, led by Butch Cassidy, committed its last American robbery near Wagner, MT. They took $65,000 from a Great Northern train.

1903 - The first cable across the Pacific Ocean was spliced between Honolulu, Midway, Guam and Manila.

1912 - Rube Marquand of the New York Giants set a baseball pitching record when earned his 19th consecutive win.

1922 - “Fruit Garden and Home” magazine was introduced. It was later renamed “Better Homes and Gardens.”

1924 - Clarence Birdseye founded the General Seafood Corp.

1930 - The U.S. Congress created the U.S. Veterans Administration.

1934 - U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) made its first payment to Lydia Losiger.

1937 - Del Mar race track opened in Del Mar, CA.

1939 - Chic Young’s comic strip character, “Blondie” was first heard on CBS radio.

1940 - Bud Abbott and Lou Costello debuted on NBC radio.

1944 - The U.S. First Army opened a general offensive to break out of the hedgerow area of Normandy, France.

1944 - During World War II, Soviet forces recaptured Minsk.

1945 - U.S. troops landed at Balikpapan and take Sepinggan airfield on Borneo in the Pacific.

1945 - The first civilian passenger car built since February 1942 was driven off the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company plant in Detroit, MI. Production had been diverted due to World War II.

1950 - U.S. carrier-based planes attacked airfields in the Pyongyang-Chinnampo area of North Korea in the first air-strike of the Korean War.

1954 - Food rationing ended in Great Britain almost nine years after the end of World War II.

1962 - Jackie Robinson became the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

1974 - The Threshold Test Ban Treaty was signed, prohibiting underground nuclear weapons tests with yields greater than 150 kilotons.

1976 - 103 hostages were rescued by an Israeli commando unit at the raid on Entebbe airport in Uganda. The hostages had been taken from an Air France jetliner.

1981 - The Associated Press ran its first story about two rare illnesses afflicting homosexual men. One of the diseases was later named AIDS.

1986 - U.S. President Reagan presided over a ceremony in New York Harbor that saw the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.

1986 - Mikhail Baryshnikov became a U.S. citizen at Ellis Island, New York Harbor.

1988 - The USS Vincennes shot down an Iran Air jetliner over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard. The jetliner was misidentified as an Iranian F-14 fighter.

1991 - U.S. President George Bush formally inaugurated the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota.

1997 - U.S. President Clinton made his first formal response to the charges of sexual harassment from Paula Jones. He denied all the charges and asked that the judge dismiss the case.

·

Related posts:Americans Spend Half of their Free Time OnlineAmericans giving up on sex and friends in favor of life onlineMove over Beijing, Dubai now has the world’s largest airport Related posts: Americans Spend Half of their Free Time Online Americans giving up on sex and friends in favor of life online Move over Beijing, Dubai now has ... (Read on Source)

For Electrabel, Belgium’s Famous installed the world’s hottest billboard at Brussels Airport. Thermal imaging cameras filming the passing travellers, their energy is directly shown on 42 lcd screens.

Seriously folks, what's up with these prototype iPhones falling out of nondescript white vans and ending up on eBay in the shadiest of manners? Just months after we saw an original iPhone prototype (ancient OS included) pop up on The 'Bay, now we've got one of the world's first iPhone 3GSs on there as well. According to the highly ranked eBay seller, the "guy" he "got it from" actually stumbled upon it at an airport, and rather than doing the nonsensical thing of hitting up lost and found, he decided to make the most of the sudden opportunity. According to the new owner, an Apple Genius has confirmed that it is an iPhone 3GS, but due to its prototype nature, they can't help him get past the "Connect to iTunes" screen. In other words, it's an incredibly rare brick. If that sounds like just the thing to complete your collection, you can visit the road to overpaying through the read link below.

[Via ElectricPig]

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone 3GS prototype scooped up at airport, now on eBay originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Seriously folks, what's up with these prototype iPhones falling out of nondescript white vans and ending up on eBay in the shadiest of manners? Just months after we saw an original iPhone prototype (ancient OS included) pop up on The 'Bay, now we've got one of the world's first iPhone 3GSs on there as well. According to the highly ranked eBay seller, the "guy" he "got it from" actually stumbled upon it at an airport, and rather than doing the nonsensical thing of hitting up lost and found, he decided to make the most of the sudden opportunity. According to the new owner, an Apple Genius has confirmed that it is an iPhone 3GS, but due to its prototype nature, they can't help him get past the "Connect to iTunes" screen. In other words, it's an incredibly rare brick. If that sounds like just the thing to complete your collection, you can visit the road to overpaying through the read link below.

[Via ElectricPig]

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone 3GS prototype scooped up at airport, now on eBay originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Are you a tweet whore? I just signed up for twitter! Follow Me on twitter! :) http://www.twitter.com/TheRealRyanHiga p.s. hahaha sorry if u guys didn't like it! This was my first try using green screen! Lyrics: Chorus (x2) Tweet like a whore like me Tweet like Tila/Miley Tweet till your hands are numb Tweet till your sounding dumb Verse 1 Cuz I'm tweeting all day And I seem to tweet more words than I really do say Cuz I'm always tweeting all the important things, you see Like when I fart, cry, laugh, burp and when I have to pee I'm going to the airport cuz I have to catch a plane Did you really need to know that? Of course! That's insane! I think I'll take a picture, twitpic for you to see I'll write that I am ugly, so that you can disagree Chorus (x2) Tweet like a whore like me Tweet like Tila/Miley Tweet till your hands are numb Tweet till your sounding dumb Verse 2 When you're under 10, over 60 aged When you constantly refresh your homepage When you have over 100 updates When you stay up tweeting till its super late When you're computer gets a virus When you tweet more than Miley Cyrus When you tweet about what you're eating When you sing a song just about Tweeting Chorus 2 Tweet like a whore like me Tweet like Tila/Miley Tweet till your hands are numb Tweet till your sounding dumb Tweet about the things you see Tweet about everything Tweet, one thing, for me please Tweet about this vid for me! Made the beat on FL Studio

Author: nigahiga Keywords: tweet whore follow me ryan higa miley cyrus tila tequila twitter therealryanhiga nigahiga jessica alba cash warren in th Added: July 3, 2009

This past February, a Delta customer had her expensive heirloom jewelry stolen from her checked bag on a trip from Rochester through Atlanta to Las Vegas:

My suitcase had been opened, my jewelry bag unzipped, and my fine jewelry (gold, diamonds, sapphires) had been hand picked out of the jewelry bag and the inexpensive jewelry (plastic, glass, metal) left strewn across my belongings inside my suitcase.

Delta doesn't take responsibility for the theft, because as they note in their rejection letter to her claim,
The tariff rules and the ticket contract covering your travel exclude responsibility for jewelry, cash, camera equipment, electronic equipment, or computer equipment contained in checked or unchecked baggage.

In other words, you're on your own when it comes to securing your valuables during air travel.

Our theft victim didn't specify in her letter, but we hope she also filed a police report as soon as she noticed the missing jewelry. In fact, here's some advice for traveling with jewelry.

• Don't.
• Always carry it with you in a carry-on bag or on your person. Never pack it in checked luggage. Even the most high-security airport can't prevent a determined thief from rifling through luggage.
• If you have a lot of expensive pieces, consider making sure your homeowner's insurance covers them while traveling. Or just get standalone jewelry insurance.
• Make sure you have appraisals or insurance evaluations.
• Photocopy the jewelry you're bringing with you, and leave a copy at home and pack a copy on your carry-on bag. This will help you quickly spot missing pieces.

The above list was compiled from tips from:
"Safety Tips When Traveling With Jewelry" [Gem Find]
"Four Tips for Traveling with Jewelry" [The Black Dress Traveler]
"Traveling with Jewelry" [Home Jewelry Business Success Tips]
(Photo: evixir)

photo credit: lrargerich

If you travel a great deal for your business or even just a few times a year then you now how expensive this can be, after you put together all the air fair, food, gas if you drive, renting a car, taxi cab fees, dry cleaning services, tips and more it adds up to be one huge bill. OpenForum recently posted some suggestions on how you can travel cheaper this year.

Make lodging reservations directly with the branch you’re staying at.  Use web sites to identify places to stay, but before reserving a room, call the hotel directly before using the online reservation system and don’t hesitate to ask for a reduced rate while on the phone. 

Think about using the buddy system where there are co-workers who will going to the same location as you. You can share hotel rates, cab fair costs, food and more. Always remember to pack at least one day’s worth of essentials in your carry on luggage. All too often people’s luggage gets lost and then they end up having to buy all new items to make it through the next day.

Never ever spend any money in the airport. Don’t stop for a snack, souvenir, bottle of water or can of pop. Why, because the airport has such a huge market up on their prices. Go outside of the airport for these needs and wants, you will find that they are far cheaper.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

We're kicking off our series exploring memorable gadgets from memorable people with one most influential tech giants: Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. – JC

OK...meaningful...here goes...

For that definition, it was probably an electronics learning kit I got for Christmas at about age 8 or 9. As I recall, it didn't teach electronics formulas or resistor codes, but was full of projects to hook up input devices like switches and output devices like buzzers and lights. It was like learning how to connect all the devices to your hi-fi, or connecting all your peripherals to a computer. It also gave me a good start toward understanding logic rules, like both switches have to be on for the light to shine, or if switch A is on, then switch B selects which light is on.

I call this one the most meaningful, because, pretty clearly to me, it preceded my other important gadgets and inspired me to like gadgets and to understand how to build some. It's like how the transistor led to the chip, which led to microprocessors, which led to personal computers. Everything goes back to the first invention, in that sense. This electronics kit gave me the understanding that made it easy to progress to large logic devices with multi-pole switches, and some relays, which then progressed to a large tic-tac-toe computer with transistors which progressed to a large adding/subtracting machine with transistors, etc.

The word 'meaningful' has the root 'meaning' which implies some emotion. In that sense, my first transistor radio, at about age 10, would fit the bill. It gave me portable music that I could listen to all night long as I slept, every night. 20 years later came the walkman, and 20 more years later came the iPod, but the real change in life, the one having the most 'meaning', was with the transistor radio.

I always wanted my own computer. With the Apple I, I now had a machine that I could program. I would never run out of things to do in my entire life. So it's a close runner up to the other two.

The gadget that has been the most attractive of attention ever is not my Segway. It's my nixie tube watch from CathodeCorner. It looks very large to other people and looks very strange. It's handmade in America too. The nixie tubes run on 140 volts on your wrist. Airport security guards who have seen every kind of watch ever made have a thrilling time with this watch.

I used to fly to Japan regularly to scour new gadgets, and always bought tons of things which were always surprising at the time, but looking back, few have special meaning. The first consumer digital camera, I think the Mavica technology, was meaningful. The first one for computers, not TV's, was the QuickTake from Apple. But in many ways, no digital camera to this day has been as good as the first Ricoh one.

The HP-35 calculator was also very meaningful in my life, as it led me to an incredible job designing for the follow-on models.

Much thanks to Woz for helping to kick off our series. Coming up soon: Phil Torrone, gadget maker and modder extraordinare.

Image credit: Sony Mav, HP Calculator

In a nondescript office at Airport Executive Park in Richmond, Vancouver, one small company is looking to shape the future of mobile media.

Disternet, headed by CEO Fay Arjomandi, is planning for the day when cell phones don’t just hold your music collection but also open up your phone to the world’s media in real time. And Arjomandi doesn’t just want to stream video to your phone, she wants to personalize that content specifically to you.In fact, the company has created software prototypes that assist telecom companies to accomodate personalized content and customization.

While Disternet has yet to make a profit, it comes with a decent pedigree. Arjomandi founded L3 and Mobidia before starting up Disternet, which boasts an advisory board including execs from Cisco and Telus.

But even with an impressive resume, competition in the mobile space is heating up like never before. Everyone acknowledges that not only is mobile THE destination platform for development (after all, it’s the only platform that’s always with you) but the new generation of smartphones are pushing the space forward in ways that seemed inconceivable even a year or two ago.

Gad Elmaleh, dubbed the "the funniest man in France," was scheduled to stage a number of performances at Lebanon’s Beiteddine Festival on July 13, 14 and 15.
But Elmaleh, who is of Jewish-Moroccan origin, recently announced that he has canceled all his performances in Lebanon this summer because of security concerns. He said he decided to do so "out of concern for his personal security and that of the [Beiteddine] festival" after a campaign against him by Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim militia and political organization.
The dust-up began last week when the TV station affiliated with Hezbollah, Al Manar, aired a photo of Elmaleh accompanied by an image of an Israeli soldier dressed in military fatigues that bore a resemblance to Elmaleh. 
Al Manar and other pro-Hezbollah media organizations said Elmaleh was pro-Israel and had served in the Israeli army. 
An article on Al Manar's website alleged that he served in the army for about four years and partook in several wars launched by Israel against Lebanon or in the Gaza Strip. 
The report said that "Elmaleh has long expressed willingness to defend his country Israel whenever needed” and that the comedian had "proudly said that Zionism is the perfect political system to safeguard the Jews.” 
Organizers of the festival disputed the allegations. "Pictures depicting Gad Elmaleh wearing an Israeli military outfit are doctored," they said in a statement published by Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. Elmaleh’s agent also denied the claims and said the image was a hoax.

Noura Jumblatt, who heads the Beiteddine organizing committee, said the group had received threats against Elmaleh’s performances. 
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s outgoing minister of tourism, Elie Marouni, stressed the importance of keeping arts and culture separate from politics and said Elmaleh is welcome to perform in Lebanon. “In my name as the tourism minister, or as a Lebanese state, we tell Gad Elmaleh he is welcome in Lebanon.

“We are ready to receive him at the airport in order to affirm that Lebanon is a land of freedom and creativity. We have to keep arts, culture and tourism away from politics," the Associated Press quoted Marouni as saying at a news conference.
The incident has triggered a stream of news reports and debates on social networking sites. An 8,000-member Facebook group set up in support of Elmaleh, called “No to intellectual terrorism! Yes to Gad Elmaleh in Lebanon," is urging Lebanese to take up what the group's administrators refer to as “cultural resistance” and sign a petition against censorship in Lebanon.
In a similar group, one member opposing Elmaleh’s visit to Lebanon aired his arguments behind his stance. 
 “This man defended the Israeli army on its war against Lebanon . . . and they want him to visit them and they will pay him money for that . . . very stupid,” read the post. 
Lebanon’s outgoing information minister, Tarik Mitri, said, “The way the campaign [against Elmaleh] was launched has probably harmed Lebanon's image.”

Meanwhile, a post on the Lebanese blog Jamal’s Propaganda asked where the commotion and civil outcries were last week when a female bystander was killed during the clashes that erupted between supporters of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri's Future Movement and supporters of the opposition-aligned Amal movement in West Beirut.
 “Three ministers took time off from their busy tourist season schedule, after all one of these ministers promised the Lebanese 3 million visitors this summer, to address an issue that has thousands of citizens enraged in this country. The cancellation of a French comedian's performances in Beiteddine has ruffled some elite feathers, as it should for where will this country be without the freedom of artistic expression. . . . Meanwhile, Zeina Miri, 30-year-old mother of five, gets shot on her balcony. No Facebook groups, no ministers holding hands at press conferences, and more importantly no fear for Lebanon's image,” read the blog post. 
A statement on the website of the Beiteddine Festival says those who have bought tickets to Elmaleh’s shows will be reimbursed. 
-- Alexandra Sandels

Photos: Top, a montage on the website of Lebanese Hezbollah on June 25 shows a picture of Moroccan French comedian Gad Elmaleh, right, among other artists scheduled to perform at the Beiteddine Festival, as well as a photo of an Israeli soldier and a burning Star of David, a map of Lebanon and the logo of the festival. Credit: Al Manar TV.

Below, Elmaleh in 2006. Credit: Wikipedia Commons.

When I saw Malcolm Gladwell doggedly dissecting Chris Anderson's upcoming "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" (see Chris' response here) my first reaction was: Brilliant!

Chris Anderson is editor-in-chief of Wired, and Malcolm Gladwell is a top brand name at The New Yorker, and as corporate cousins, clearly Condé Nast's publicity machine must have engineered this beef, trying to boost sales of both their titles through a completely manufactured rivalry.

Their past titles have been champions of what I call the "Airport Books" genre: The elite class of business titles that I see sold in airport newsstands next to the magazines and crappy romance novels. (I might have unknowingly stolen "airport books" from someone else, but I can't find a citation.)

Read the rest of this story »