From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Oct 20 13:07:45 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9KH7jL18398; Wed, 20 Oct 2004 13:07:45 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 13:07:45 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410201707.i9KH7jL18398@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #501 TELECOM Digest Wed, 20 Oct 2004 13:08:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 501 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Microsoft to Debut 'Istanbul' Application (Monty Solomon) AT&T Wireless 3rd Quarter Net Income of $0.04 Per Share (Monty Solomon) Motorola Reports Third-Quarter 2004 Financial Results (Monty Solomon) Hacker Hits California University Computer (Monty Solomon) Hacker Hits Berkeley Computer; More Details (Lisa Minter) InterCall Canada Audio Conferencing? (Geoffrey Welsh) "Technical" Cable/Wire (Cyril) Find Some Books to Swap on www.myswapmeet.com (myswapmeet) Kennedy, Johnson, Goldwater (Anthony Bellanga) 'K' vs. 'W' Radio and TV Call Signs (Anthony Bellanga) Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! Nice Place to Work) (David Clayton) Re: Verizon Taking Lesson From Hooterville Telephone Company (Ed Clarke) Re: REN Boosters From England? (Paul Coxwell) Last Laugh! Red Faces at Orange as Customer Gets Blue Photos (L Minter) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 09:08:32 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Microsoft to Debut 'Istanbul' Application By MARK JEWELL AP Business Writer BOSTON (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. introduced on Tuesday a desktop computer application that aims to seamlessly integrate e-mail, instant messaging, video conferencing, traditional phone service and Internet-based calling. Microsoft plans to debut the product, code-named "Istanbul," sometime in the first half of 2005. It will compete with efforts from rivals including IBM Corp. and smaller players such as Convoq Inc. to link together various channels of communications and promote their most effective use. The products employ "presence" technology, which tells users whether co-workers are online and their degree of availability _ whether they can take a phone call or prefer to be e-mailed or to instead join a Web conference, for example. The idea is to enhance the "buddy list" concept of instant messaging so workers can choose how to best communicate in a given moment, bringing an end to games of phone tag in a world of packed schedules. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44392180 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 09:15:53 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: AT&T Wireless Reports Third Quarter Net Income of $0.04 Per Share REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 2004-- Delivers $1.1 Billion in OIBDA; Operating Free Cash Flow and Net Customer Additions Increase From Second Quarter AT&T Wireless (NYSE:AWE) today said Earnings Per Share (EPS) for the quarter was $0.04, an increase from $0.02 per share in the second quarter, and $0.02 below last year's third quarter EPS of $0.06. The year-over-year decline in EPS was due primarily to lower operating income. Third quarter services revenue declined 1.5 percent from the second quarter to $3.813 billion. Services revenue declined $260 million, or 6.4 percent, from the year-ago quarter. Services revenue was positively impacted by higher data revenue and an increase in revenues from regulatory program fees. Led by strong customer demand for messaging services, mMode and business data solutions, revenue from wireless data services increased 145 percent over the prior year period. More than offsetting these increases were lower monthly recurring charges received from the company's postpaid subscriber base and higher promotional incentives to support customer retention efforts during the quarter. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44377666 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 09:17:31 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Motorola Reports Third-Quarter 2004 Financial Results Motorola Reports Third-Quarter 2004 Financial Results - Oct 19, 2004 04:00 PM (PR Newswire) - Third-quarter 2004 sales of $8.624 billion, up 26 percent compared to third-quarter 2003 sales of $6.829 billion. - Third-quarter 2004 GAAP earnings of $479 million, or $.20 per share, up 313 percent compared to third-quarter 2003 GAAP earnings of $116 million, or $.05 per share. - Third-quarter 2004 GAAP results include: (1) income of $195 million, or $.05 per share, from the sale of investments, (2) net expense of $81 million, or $.02 per share, related to the retirement of $1.7 billion of long-term debt, (3) expense of $67 million, or $.03 per share, related to the impairment of goodwill, (4) expense of $55 million, or $.01 per share, for previously-announced severance charges, (5) a tax benefit of $39 million, or $.02 per share, resulting from the reversal of tax reserves due to the settlement of certain tax audit items, and (6) expense of $19 million, or $.01 per share, for Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (FSL) separation costs. As previously reported in Motorola's third-quarter 2003 earnings release, third-quarter 2003 GAAP earnings included net special-item charges of $27 million, or $.01 per share, as detailed in that release. - Third-quarter 2004 positive operating cash flow of $1.3 billion, which enabled the company to complete the quarter with net cash of $4.4 billion, compared to net debt of $41 million at the end of 2003.(1) SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) today reported sales of $8.624 billion in the third quarter of 2004. This is a 26 percent increase from sales of $6.829 billion in the third quarter of 2003. Motorola also reported net earnings of $479 million, or $.20 per share, in the third quarter of 2004, presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), an increase of 313 percent compared to third- quarter 2003 GAAP earnings of $116 million, or $.05 per share. Third-quarter 2004 GAAP earnings include: (1) income of $195 million, or $.05 per share, from the sale of investments, (2) net expense of $81 million, or $.02 per share, related to the retirement of $1.7 billion of long-term debt and cancellation of associated interest rate swaps, (3) expense of $67 million, or $.03 per share, related to the impairment of goodwill, (4) expense of $55 million, or $.01 per share, for previously-announced severance charges, (5) a tax benefit of $39 million, or $.02 per share, resulting from the reversal of tax reserves due to the settlement of certain tax audit items, and (6) expense of $19 million, or $.01 per share, related to FSL separation costs. Motorola reported GAAP net earnings of $116 million, or $.05 per share, in the third quarter of 2003. As previously reported in Motorola's third-quarter 2003 earnings release, third-quarter 2003 earnings included net special-item charges of $27 million, or $.01 per share, as detailed in that earnings release. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44375553 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 09:30:53 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Hacker Hits California University Computer By REUTERS Filed at 9:02 p.m. ET SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A computer hacker accessed names and Social Security numbers of about 1.4 million Californians after breaking into a University of California, Berkeley, computer system in perhaps the worst attack of its kind ever suffered by the school, officials said on Tuesday. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-crime-hacking.html?ex=1256011200&en=d6c672d337c23540&ei=5090 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Read further on this in the next article in this issue. Lisa Minter brings more details on the hacker attack on Berkeley. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Hacker Hits Berkeley California University Computer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:47:44 EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A computer hacker accessed names and Social Security numbers of about 1.4 million Californians after breaking into a University of California, Berkeley, computer system in perhaps the worst attack of its kind ever suffered by the school, officials said on Tuesday. "The investigation is continuing but we have no idea if the (personal) information has been compromised," said Carlos Ramos, assistant secretary at the California Health and Human Services Agency. He said state agencies and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were investigating but the hacker had not been found. The names accessed by the hacker were being used by a UC Berkeley researcher who had collected data on elderly people and individuals who provide in-home care to seniors to study the impact of wages on in-home care, Ramos said. The data, which included home addresses, telephone numbers and dates of birth, was being used at the state's authorization but without the consent of the individuals whose information was being used in the study. Ramos said the state is authorized to share with researchers the personal information of individuals who participate in state programs administered by the state social services department. George Strait, a university spokesman, confirmed the school's computer system had been penetrated in what he believed was the most significant hacking job the university had experienced. The university detected its computer system had been broken into at the end of August, but did not notify the state until Sept. 27 after the school had done its own investigation with the FBI, Strait said. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters News Service.. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Geoffrey Welsh Subject: InterCall Canada Audio Conferencing? Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 12:04:32 -0400 I'm shopping our telecom services around, but none of the telcos can match the audio conferencing rates offered by InterCall Canada. (http://www.intercall.ca/) We do enough conferencing that it would be worth severing that service from our otherwise bundled services, but I'm a bit reluctant to roll out new numbers and accounts with an unfamiliar company. They seem to have operations in a few countries, and they are owned by the West Corporation, whom I've heard of but don't really know. Any expeiences/comments? Thanks, Geoffrey Welsh If anything worth doing is worth doing right, then surely anything not worth doing right is not worth doing at all. ------------------------------ From: cyril.dary@cote-azur.cci.fr (Cyril) Subject: Seeking Technical Advice on Cable/Wire Date: 20 Oct 2004 02:38:23 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I'm looking for experts/companies/laboratories who are working on cables and wires. Caracteristics : low voltage/modulated impedance Objective : creating or buying (!) a cable/wire able to process simultaneous sources/data/information merging lan standards and wireless technologies. Applications : not only computers but telecommunications, domotics Any other informations are welcome (patents, associations, etc.) ------------------------------ From: everything.myswapmeet@gmail.com (myswapmeet) Subject: Find Some Books to Swap on www.myswapmeet.com Date: 20 Oct 2004 07:54:42 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Guys, instead of buying expensive books why don't you swap it with some one ... Check it out -- it has some listing for CCIE -- VoIP and networking under San Francisco Bay Area. www.myswapmeet.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 23:51:20 -0600 From: Anthony Bellanga Subject: Kennedy, Johnson, Goldwater Reply-To: anthonybellanga@withheld on request PAT, to prevent $pam, please do NOT display my email address, neither in the "from" line, nor in the "reply to" line. Pat, in the thread on the Sinclair owned TV stations, you added (in part): > Barry Goldwater (who ran against Kennedy as I recall) ... and > Remember how Goldwater was thought to be such a war hawk > when he was running, and all the smears against him by > the Democrats? And his Democratic opponent, John Kennedy, Kennedy was assassinated on Friday 22 November 1963. Then Vice-President Johnson became President. As incumbent, he was the "favorite" for Democratic nomination at their Summer 1964 convention in Atlantic City. Even back in 1963, Goldwater WAS indeed the "expected" or "favorite" for the Republican nomination, and he was nominated at their Summer 1964 convention in San Francisco. But Goldwater actually challenged President Johnson in 1964. Kennedy had already been dead for close to a year by then. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 00:00:10 -0600 From: Anthony Bellanga Subject: 'K' vs. 'W' Radio and TV Call Signs Reply-To: anthonybellanga@withheld at request I'm re-sending this. I never got your auto "ack", and this hasn't appeared yet. I originally sent it about 24 hours ago, early on Tuesday morning. PAT, to prevent $pam, please do NOT display my email address, neither in the "from" line, nor in the "reply to" line. John Mayson wrote: > You're thinking of KDKA (Pittsburgh PA) > Originally coastal stations on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico got > "W" callsigns and Pacific stations got "K". When we started > assigning callsigns to broadcast stations some Texas stations like > WFAA and WOAI ended up with W's. Pittsburgh's KDKW [sic] and > Philly's KYW were allowed to keep their pre-existing callsigns. > The government quickly redrew the line along the Mississippi because > the more populous east was eating up too many "W" callsigns. > I only know of one exception to the Mississippi rule. The FCC > allowed a Waco, TX TV station (and possibly radio) to adopt WACO. There are many other "central plains" states (west of the Mississippi River) with 'W' calll-signs for *old* radio stations dating back to the *early* 1920s era, along with subsequent TV counterparts associated with those *old* radio stations. The original boundary between 'W' and 'K' was roughly the Rocky Mountains. Other states (west of the Mississippi, east of the Rockies) in addition to Texas, with 'W' call-signs for such *old* radio stations (and subsequent TV stations associated with those radio stations) include Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Louisiana and Minnesota both "straddle" the Mississippi River. Offhand, I don't know why Arkansas doesn't have any 'W' radio stations today -- maybe they did at one time, but the few old stations changed their call-signs, of course to 'K' stations ??? The following website gives an excellent history of the rules and such for the 'W' and 'K' usage, including why there are some 'K' stations which happen to be *EAST* of the Mississippi (such as KDKA Pittsburgh). It seems that those few 'K' radio (and TV) stations *east* of the Mississippi River are in the midwest and northeast. http://earlyradiohistory.us/kwtrivia.htm Anthony Bellanga ------------------------------ From: David Clayton Subject: Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! A Nice Place to Work!) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 18:44:32 +1000 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) contributed the following: >> Streetcars, while quaint, have limitations. > Yes, they do. But in certain situations they are superior. They held > more people and accelerated faster than a bus did, providing faster > and more comfortable service. However, in street service they get > blocked behind stuck cars. The older models (pre 1930) were noisy and > rough riding, but the 1930 and onward, especially the PCC* cars were > very nice. > *PCC was an industry top-down new design of a streetcar with high > comfort and performance and efficiency in mind. Anyone lucky enough > to ride the Newark (NJ) City Subway before new cars got to see how > smooth and quiet they were. The design was copied in Europe and > thousands of cars were built there. And if you want to have a look at the one city in Australia that fought off the "fashion" to get rid of their "Streetcars" (we actually call 'em Trams), and is currently extending lines and upgrading its fleet, go to: http://www.doi.vic.gov.au/DOI/Internet/transport.nsf/AllDocs/C7E281CCFFC65BFC4A256AE6000FE6BF?OpenDocument And their also is a PCC car in a tram museum here (somewhere ...) Regards, David Clayton, e-mail: dcstar@XYZ.myrealbox.com Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. (Remove the "XYZ." to reply) Dilbert's words of wisdom #18: Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience. ------------------------------ From: Ed Clarke Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company Date: 20 Oct 2004 11:54:45 GMT Organization: Ciliophora Associates, Inc. Reply-To: clarke@cilia.org In article , HorneTD wrote: > Just be aware that voice over cable requires electric power at both > ends of the circuit and several places in between. In the event of a > power outage your phone service dies. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A suggestion has been made here in this > Digest a few times that to eliminate the problem of a lack of power > due to a storm, or fallen wires or whatever, use a UPS for the VOIP > phone adapter and your modem. This will allow you to make emergency > calls during the power outage. PAT] It's the line amplifiers in between that are the problem. There's a backup generator at the headend but the fiber nodes require power when you go from fiber back to coaxial cable and any amplifiers also need power (comes in on the coax). In other words, if your cable service goes out, so does your phone. On the other hand, Cablevision has been more reliable in the past few years than Verizon. I have an intermitant problem with the fiber-to-copper node that services my local area. EVERYBODY's phone goes out for half an hour or so. Cellphones remain working. Try reporting that to Verizon. Normally I wouldn't care very much, but it also takes down my T1 (lots of errors, then loss of sync, then all the leds on the smartjack go out). My voice telephone(s) also lose dialtone. It also takes out all my neighbors (as verified by a cellphone). ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: REN Boosters From England? Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:41:33 +0100 John McHarry wrote in message news:telecom23.486.14@telecom-digest.org: > Points well taken, but I don't think FCC approval is required for a > ringing booster. I comment because it reminds me of being in the UK > some years ago when modems required some sort of approval. Everybody I > knew just built adaptors for US modems. When Brits came to visit us, > we had a couple people who could cobble them the other way. You had to > flip a couple wires around, much like wiring a 10 base T > connector. When I visited the BT labs at Martlesham Heath, the first > thing they did was present me with a prewired adaptor in a little > plastic package. The rule was kind of a dead letter, even with them. Sorry for the late reply -- I missed your response first time around. I just mentioned the approvals for sake of completeness, although I have no idea whether the U.S. rules may have changed in recent years. Technically, here in the U.K. any equipment connected to the PSTN is still supposed to have appropriate approval, but as you say, it's not something that is or ever has been strictly enforced. I was using unapproved U.S. and home-brew modems on the lines 20+ years ago and still have quite a number of old WE 500/2500 sets around the house, which strictly speaking shouldn't be connected (but you didn't hear that from me! ). The UK vs. US connections has been something of an ongoing problem ever since RJ11 type jacks started appearing on telephone equipment aimed at the British market. These days, almost all modems sold here do put the line on the center pair, then the RJ11-to-UK cord is simply a 2-wire to connect to the *outer* pair on the British jack. But many other pieces of telephone equipment need the third wire for the bell/ringer, and use an RJ11 modular connection on the phone itself but with a flat 4-wire cord connecting to the British plug, thereby putting the tip and ring on what would normally be the second pair of the RJ11. Naturally people start having problems when they swap cords around and end up trying to use the wrong type of interconnect. Paul. ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Last Laugh! Red Faces at Orange as Customer Gets Blue Photos Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:53:15 EDT [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Try not to smirk as you read this report. PAT] LONDON (Reuters) - Mobile phone firm Orange says its picture messaging service can "make someone feel really special." But when one customer called the company helpline she received some pictures that made her feel outraged instead. What she expected was a photo from a customer service representative to make sure her camera phone was working. What she got was a series of close-ups his genitals. "This ex-employee sent some indecent photographs of himself. He was dismissed within a week," an Orange spokeswoman said on Wednesday. "We've looked into the matter, collated the information and handed it over to the police." Worldwide camera phone sales are rising fast and expected to total 150 million this year. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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