From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Feb 9 22:51:01 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i1A3p1N14961; Mon, 9 Feb 2004 22:51:01 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 22:51:01 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402100351.i1A3p1N14961@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 #65 TELECOM Digest Mon, 9 Feb 2004 22:51:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 65 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Nigerians Certainly Getting Agressive! (TELECOM Digest Editor) Broadband in the Sky (Monty Solomon) A Cameraphone That Turns Heads (Monty Solomon) Help on Centigram, Baypoint Innovations, Mitel NuPoint (Centigramparts) Record Two Telephone Lines to One PC (Ryan Ochoa) Re: Recording the VCR's Swan Song (Carl Navarro) Re: Building a Voice Driven Application (Charles B. Wilber) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (Bob Goudreau) Re: Comcast Has Limits For Heavy Internet Users (Paul Vader) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Paul Vader) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Nick Landsberg) Order New Book: Photographic History of Ameritech (SBCSI) 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 is 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: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 17:41:04 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Nigerians Certainly Getting Agressive! Over the past two weeks I have received at least a dozen phone calls from Nigeria -- of all places! -- from someone claiming to be a top banking official in that country asking if I wanted to open an account in a US bank for him. Quite often the calls arrived when I was asleep (roughly 3 AM to 8 AM) and sleepily I answered my phone and without even listening, told the caller to try back at a more civilized hour. Twice I did not catch the phone soon enough and it rolled over to voicemail. Once I was talking to someone and let it just go to voicemail. The person never left any voicemail messages. Once I was coming out of Marvins with several sacks of groceries and told the caller to try me again later. Each time he was calling from Nigeria. Each time he sounded like a typical telemarketer, that is began with saying 'hello Mr. Townson, how are you today' or once I was 'Patrick' rather than 'Mr. Townson'. But he never would volunteer who he was until (each time) I rather sharply asked who he was and what he wanted, then he would pause, think about it and give me the 'bank officer' routine. You see, they are not allowed to open any accounts in foreign countries, and need help to do that, which is where I was to come into the picture and be of help. At least a dozen attempts over a week or two! Now you know he is not paying for all those calls, every one of them is most likely fraud. Even today, I was a little bit peeved with the interupption to my work when he called, so I did not think clearly. But if he calls again, which I hope he does, I'll play his game with him. I'll provide him with a bogus social security number, a good post office box address (of my own) and invite him to send his money order or cashiers check or whatever for negotiation on this end. I've mentioned it to the manager at our bank here, she said if such a thing arrives to just give it to her, she will try to get us something out of it. I never thought those Nigerians would actually resort to using the phone to find new suckers however, certainly not at the rate of several international phone calls over two weeks. PAT ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 22:04:06 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Broadband In The Sky Ten O'Clock Tech Arik Hesseldahl, 02.06.04, 10:00 AM ET NEW YORK - There's only so much a business traveler can accomplish with a notebook computer that is not connected to the Internet. Airlines like JetBlue (nasdaq: JBLU - news - people ) can bring you in-flight satellite TV service, but aircraft manufacturer Boeing (nyse: BA - news - people ) is trying to figure how to bring in-flight Internet access via satellite. Some business travelers see their travel time as a gift; others see it as an obstacle to productivity. A good deal of the design attributes of many notebook PCs from vendors like IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people ), Gateway (nyse: GTW - news - people ) and Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ), as well as Intel's (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) Centrino chip platform, aim to maximize the hours of use out of a notebook computer while on a long flight. Beginning in April, a unit of Boeing called Connexion by Boeing will launch a service that brings broadband Internet access aboard certain flights with airlines like Lufthansa, Japan Airlines, British Airways (nyse: BAB - news - people ) and others. http://www.forbes.com/personaltech/2004/02/06/cx_ah_0206tentech.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 22:09:32 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: A Camera Phone That Turns Heads Ten O'Clock Tech Arik Hesseldahl, 02.09.04, 10:00 AM ET NEW YORK - When we saw the LG Electronics VX-6000 used in an advertisement on a giant video screen in New York's Times Square, we figured it was time to try it out. For the most part, the camera-phone craze has been a Global System for Mobile Communications affair. The best phones with integrated digital cameras come from companies like Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ) and Sony Ericsson, the joint venture of Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) and Ericsson (nasdaq: ERICY - news - people ) and are aimed at carriers who use the GSM standard, which dominates Europe. GSM carriers in the U.S. include AT&T Wireless (nyse: AWE - news - people ), T-Mobile, a unit of Deutsch Telekon (nyse: DT - news - people ), and Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of SBC Communications (nyse: SBC - news - people ) and BellSouth (nyse: BLS - news - people ). But the dominant network standard in the U.S. is Code Division Multiple Access. And the two main CDMA carriers in the U.S. are Sprint PCS (nyse: PCS - news - people ) and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon (nyse: VZ - news - people ) and Vodafone (nyse: VOD - news - people ). And, generally speaking, camera phones on CDMA networks have been a little less impressive than those on the GSM networks. While they may work about as well as their GSM competitors, they haven't done so with the sleek fashion-phone cachet. LG Electronics, the South Korean manufacturing giant, has changed that with the VX6000, which is available from Verizon Wireless. It's a clamshell shaped phone that weighs less than four ounces. It looks cool, and it's easy to use. http://www.forbes.com/personaltech/2004/02/09/cx_ah_0209tentech.html ------------------------------ From: rlawrence@promemoinc.com (Centigramparts.com) Subject: Help on Centigram, Baypoint Innovations & Mitel NuPoint Messenger? Date: 9 Feb 2004 17:13:45 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com My name is Ron Lawrence and my company is ProMemo, Inc ... ProMemo, Inc. has been working on Centigram Voicemail equipment for over 21 years now. We continue to stock parts for all Legacy systems like Power Supplies, Hard Drives, CPU's and Line Cards. We also have Software too, in case you are missing a certain diskette or require an extra cost feature. So whether you are a Service Bureau or CPE, we will continue to stock the equipment you need for your NEW and Legacy Voicemail systems. Take a peek at our Interactive web-site www.promemoinc.com or www.centigramparts.com or www.baypointinnovations.com and you will see just how focused we are to the Centigram platform. Also, in one week, we will be adding the Technical Documentation Manual for you to access, and at no extra charge ... check-it out. ProMemo, Inc. email: rlawrence@promemoinc.com web: www.promemoinc.com web: www.centigramparts.com web: www.baypointinnovations.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Welcome to the Digest readership, Mr. Lawrence. Are there any newsgroups for voicemail equipment and/or software? Although this Digest is not usually used for commercial messages as such, many of our readers either operate or administer voicemail systems, so I thought maybe your message might be a way for them to update their list of contacts, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rochoa@allcovered.com (Ryan Ochoa) Subject: Record Two Telephone Lines to One PC Date: 9 Feb 2004 11:53:47 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I'm looking for a device or instructions on how to record ALL telephone conversations from a jack with TWO telephone numbers to my PC. I would like to have an all in one device, but I could use two modems if neccessary. Any help is much appreciated. ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Recording the VCR's Swan Song Reply-To: cnavarro@wcnet.org Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2004 21:24:39 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com On Mon, 9 Feb 2004 00:16:59 -0500, Monty Solomon wrote: > Second, there's that bit about "cheap." Everybody knows that set-top > DVD recorders are expensive. The best ones include a hard drive for > TiVo-like flexibility but cost $600 and up. DVD-only models start at > $400 or so. Logic and pundits have long maintained that the VCR's > funeral rites won't begin in earnest until DVD-recorder prices fall > below $300 -- and now they have, led by Gateway's AR-230 and a few > rivals from lesser-known companies. I came close to biting on the latest Wal~Mart offering, the Apex 9000 for about $269. The reviews are horrible. WM also has a "Cyber-home" unit for $248. At some point in time, we'll just need the VCR to play existing tapes into the DVD recorder one time for copying :-) Carl Navarro ------------------------------ Date: 09 Feb 2004 16:02:51 EST From: Charles.B.Wilber@Dartmouth.EDU (Charles B. Wilber) Subject: Re: Building a Voice Driven Application Nick, Did you possibly mean to write "press or say" instead of "speak or say?" I don't see the difference between "speaking" and "saying" something. Charlie Wilber Dartmouth College Nick Landsberg wrote: > "Please speak or say 1 for Granny Smith apples, speak or say 2 for > Macintosh apples..." or alternatively ask for the name of the > particular apples they were interested in, in which case you would > have to program the words "Granny Smith" and "Macintosh" into the ASR > grammar". ------------------------------ Reply-To: BobGoudreau@not-your.biz From: BobGoudreau@not-your.biz We are beating a dead horse, but if the person having the PDA never > performs a backup or transfer -- when was the last time you backed up > the contents of your PC's hard disk -- the data is still lost. > Every office I visit has at least a copier or fax machine that > would allow a sheet of notes or sketches to be copied and shared if > need be. But I'm willing to bet that far more PDA users than Daytimer users actually do back up their data. It's pretty easy for me to back up my Palm Pilot (which is also my phone) by slipping it into its charging cradle, pressing the "sync" button and waiting 30 seconds -- so easy that I do it almost daily. In fact, anyone who wants to have a shared appointment book (say, between their phone or PDA and MS Outlook on their PC) will be happy to do this regularly. In comparison, flipping through a daytimer to find all the pages that have changed since the last backup and then photocopying them is quite a chore. Bob Goudreau Cary, NC [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Dear Bob, I hope obscuring your address by putting you in the '.biz' domain (?) was sufficient. PAT] ------------------------------ From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) Subject: Re: Comcast Has Limits For Heavy Internet Users Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2004 22:35:30 -0000 Organization: Inline Software Creations > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And how often do you ever see an ISP > who will give you a shell if you ask for one. They're deathly afraid > of what havoc you might cause if you had a shell account. PAT] In point of fact there are lots of services selling (and in at least one case, giving away) shell accounts. But why does it matter anyway? On real operating systems, your own computer's shell can do all the same things a shell account used to do, and even better because you can compile your own command line programs. * * PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something like corkscrews. ------------------------------ From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2004 22:37:57 -0000 Organization: Inline Software Creations > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But there are already people who know > if you voted, and to the extent that they need to know, how you > voted. What do you feel government agencies like the Board of Election What? Unless you're not talking about national elections, nobody should be able to determine how you voted. Do you let your election judge shoulder surf while you're voting or something? * -- * PV something like badgers -- something like lizards -- and something like corkscrews. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No I do not allow the judge of election to shoulder surf. Anyway, its not their business. Judges of election and precinct captains and others of that ilk have no business knowing anything about *how* you voted; only that you did (you signed the register when you went in or did not sign it. Either you have officially voted -- per the register -- or you have not yet voted. The judges of election (ordinarily two of one party and one of the other party, or one each of three parties) have the jobs of examining your identification (to qualify your residence, etc for voting); prohibiting electioneering (the illegal practice of campaigning for candidates or parties within a certain distance of the polling place; usually fifty or one hundred feet, including the distribution of literature in the same distance); giving instruction on voting (on request of the voter only) and giving assistance in voting with a second or third judge of the opposite party present, again, on request of the voter. For example, I go to vote and ask the judges of election "how do I use this machine?" That is called 'instruction' and any judge can instruct me in using the voting apparatus. Other judges present, along with the polling place observers, will hear the judge instructing me. If the judge's instructions include 'pull lever four for straight Democratic ticket' for example, the Republican judge or the polling place observers might protest. If I state that I am handicapped, and need help in voting, then *two judges* -- one of each party -- will escort me to the voting booth. They will stand beside me while one of the two explains the apparatus and asks me about my choices. If I say I wish to vote straight Republican for example, then the *Democratic* judge will say to the Republican judge, 'Mr. Townson wishes to vote straight Republican' and as the three of us observe, the Democratic judge will pull the lever/push the button, etc if I am physically unable to do so because of my physical handicap. If you say you don't know anything about politics, don't care, etc then the judge will say 'just pull one of the levers.' They will pressure you to get off the pot, so to speak and say something so they can observe each other doing what they heard you say. That's all the judges of election do: maintain an orderly process, advise as requested and help as requested. Precinct captains are not supposed to be there at all; no loitering allowed at the polling place. And the youthful, idealistic poll watchers (who do get to hang around all day, and are appointed by the minority candidates) won't hesitate to speak up and say 'objection, judge' if one or more of the judges of election say or do something improper. When one of the observers or another judge call an objection, all ears perk up and everyone starts watching and listening closely. And whenever there is a request for 'help in voting' (as opposed for example to a request for 'instruction') then the judge who deals first with the request for help must say in a relatively loud and conspicuous voice 'voter needs help' or maybe one of the poll watchers will say it for him. Then like before, everyone stops, looks and listens. Most voters do not need any help, the curtain has to go closed before the machine will operate, and all votes (except the rare 'assisted in voting') are done in private. Before the election begins, an employee of the Board has to go around to each polling place, remove the locks from the machines, cast a 'sample vote' for each candidate to assure each machine is functioning properly, etc. Sample votes are later deducted from the total votes. An aquaintence of mine in Chicago who is employed by the Board of Election Commissioners said to me, "The people objecting the most to computerized voting do not realize how easy by comparison it is to rig the old mechanical machines, if that's your thing, if you don't object to a stay in Joliet Penitentiary for a couple years. While the computerized systems *are* more sophisticated and difficult to tamper with short of being a 'computer hacker' (his term), yes, it can be done, but not to the extent the old mechanical systems were diddled with. So who would know about your vote short of shoulder surfing? Well all the absentee ballots have to be imput into the machinery also, even the electromechanical apparatus if not the computerized stuff. Many folks can 'cheat' with your vote if that's their thing; most are just droids working at their jobs and don't care either way. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Nick Landsberg Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 01:14:37 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet I originally wrote: [much snipped] > Is it enough to know that Patrick Townsend cast a vote in order to > ensure the accuracy of the tally? Probably not. If this is the case, > then Patrick's actual vote must be recorded. But then Patrick loses > his anonymity! Once Patrick loses his anonymity, then all sorts of > *BAD THINGS* may happen when (not if) someone finds out the way > Patrick voted. (I'm probably preaching to the choir here.) > As to running the systmes in parallel, well, if someone was determined > to undermine the system (hack it), and knew that it would be running > in parallel for some length of time, then they would not hack it until > the the parallel running was suspended, would they not? > > Security, accuracy, and convenience may well be at the extreme points > of a triangle and the resultant solution will be to compromise all > three (a little, hopefully), in order to come up with a workable > system. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But there are already people who know > if you voted, and to the extent that they need to know, how you > voted. What do you feel government agencies like the Board of Election > Commissioners (to use the Chicago name) are for, if not to try and > govern and manage elections and have some honesty behind them? Aside > from being sworn to absolute secrecy (even to the extent of no office > gossiping) with *severe* penalties for violating that trust (losing > their job and their source of monthly welfare would be a total > disaster for most of them, to say nothing about *maybe* going to > jail); most public servants -- or do you pronounce it serpents? -- > find elections and the results to be a terrible bore. They've got > their jobs and could really care less what you think of the higher ups > you voted for. Nah, I would not worry that a handful of public > servants knew how I voted if their job duties required it. And if the > *Chicago Democratic machine* runs a relatively honest Board of > Election Commissioners (not talking now about individual judges or the > candidates, etc) then almost anywhere does. PAT] Patrick, you may have missed my point. It is one thing to have the board of elections folks know how you voted, it is quite another thing, in my mind, to have any random "hacker" know how you voted. Maybe I'm too paranoid, but my parents escaped from a communist country where your ballot was "inspected" before being cast. I consider the concept of "secret ballot" as one of the great strengths of true democratic systems because of that. How would YOU feel if your local sherrif made a call on you and said "I notice you didn't vote for me, Pat. I'm disappointed in you."? Or if the union steward mentioned that you didn't vote for candidate the union had endorsed? Or your employer did the same thing, if you were non-union? As far as I am concerned, the current level of so-called security in these computerized voting systems is sorely lacking. In a paper system, one can (however painfully) take the anonymous ballots and retally them. There is a "paper trail" which does not reveal the voter's identity but can be used to verify the accuracy of the count. Certainly, one can claim to be a person whose name you got from a gravestone in the local cemetary and cast a false ballot (Definition of Chicago voting: "Vote early and often!") With computerized systems, there are many more places where fraud can be introduced, including the hacker who changes the totals in a disk file without leaving any trail of his/her actions. To avoid this, there should be a way of independently recreating the tally. How? If the system keeps a trail of how everyone voted, then that same hacker could copy that set of files to his/her machine and decipher that information and you may well be into the scenarios I mentioned above. "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious" - A. Bloch [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Probably everyone's background detirmines how they come down on this issue. Your parents coming from a communist country had every reason to be concerned. But remember, people in Chicago, with the 'vote early and often' mentality also have good reasons to be leary of the old combination paper and electromechanical system and the mounds of fraud that go on with that. I was a polling place observer in Chicago for several years, beginning back in the 1960's when one of the poll-watchers' jobs was to make certain that black and other minority people were allowed to vote. The judges of election were forever playing games, and precinct captains (invariably Democratic) were always driving chartered busses to the polling places full of old (white) people from the nursing homes and *escorting them into the little booths to 'help them' cast the right votes, etc.* You could object all you wanted to as a polling place watcher, they did not care; when the precinct captain sassed at you and said he was going to stand there anyway, and glare at you, maybe you got some help from the Republican judge -- if there was a Republican judge there -- they were in such short supply many times the Board had to recruit excess Democratic judges from precincts where there were too many and deputize them to be a *Republican* judge in that one instance for that one day only. And in the 1960's they would not even let a poll watcher in to observe if he seemed to be in sympathy with Martin Luther King, especially after the Democrats had their riot at the 1968 convention. I and many others got gassed and beaten up by the Chicago Police in that sordid affair. Maybe that tear gas is what affected my brain desease so badly now, eh? So, for about 40 years I kept praying and hoping for a day when computers would be used to decide all elections in an impartial way. Now you see where I am coming from, and I see where you are at also. The Board of Election Commissioners in Chicago at least never hesitates these days to fire any employee who screws around with the election or violates their trust, etc. Sadly, it was not always that way. PAT] ------------------------------ From: CAUGHLIN, WILLIAM D (SBCSI) Subject: New Book: Photographic History of Ameritech Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 10:54:10 -0600 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A repeat of an earlier message from a previous issue, in case you missed seeing it earlier. I don't mean to be a bore on this. PAT] Dear Pat: I would be delighted to send you a copy of the book that I co-authored in 1999. It is nearly 4-1/2 years old, but has never been reviewed. I am copying Ilana Pergam (now at the Leo Burnett Archives in Chicago), who was a co-author, too. Sincerely, Bill William D. Caughlin Corporate Archivist SBC Communications Inc. Archives and History Center 7990 IH-10 West, Floor 1 San Antonio, Texas 78230 Tel: (210) 524-6192 Fax: (210) 321-5577 E-mail: wc2942@sbc.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: See the coupon in issue 64 to order this book from the publisher, SBC Services, Inc. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-330-6774 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #65 *****************************