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The Telecom Digest for July 7, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 148 : "text" Format
====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other
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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, and other stuff of interest.
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Date: Sat, 6 Jul 2013 00:27:00 +0000 (UTC)
From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Software as a Monthly Rental
Message-ID: <kr7o8k$crf$1@reader2.panix.com>
In article <p0624082acdfa9cc4bb80@[10.0.1.12]>,
Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> wrote:
>
>Software as a Monthly Rental
>
>By DAVID POGUE
>July 3, 2013
>
>There's a new reason for Photoshop to be famous.
If you have a need for Photoshop but don't want to pay Adobe's rates,
I recommend Irfanview (www.irfanview.com) to anyone needing an
inexpensive image editor (its shareware with a suggested donation of 10
euros (approx 13 USD)). The author provides good email support to
registered users.
(No commercial connection to Irfanview, just a happy user.)
--
Rich Greenberg Sarasota, FL, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 941 378 2097
Eastern time. N6LRT I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67
Canines: Val,Red,Shasta,Zero,Casey & Cinnar (At the bridge) Owner:Chinook-L
Canines: Red & Max (Siberians) Retired at the beach Asst Owner:Sibernet-L
Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2013 13:20:42 -0400
From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement
Message-ID: <MPG.2c40ca79f822e3fc989e1c@news.eternal-september.org>
In article <p0624082ccdfa9d85e8a3@[10.0.1.12]>, monty@roscom.com says...
>
> U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement
>
> By RON NIXON
> July 3, 2013
>
> WASHINGTON - Leslie James Pickering noticed something odd in his mail
> last September: a handwritten card, apparently delivered by mistake,
> with instructions for postal workers to pay special attention to the
> letters and packages sent to his home.
>
> "Show all mail to supv" - supervisor - "for copying prior to going
> out on the street," read the card. It included Mr. Pickering's name,
> address and the type of mail that needed to be monitored. The word
> "confidential" was highlighted in green.
I can think of some interesting games one could play with their postal
investigators. Start using alternative scripts for return addresses that
you drop in mailboxes in other states to yourself. I'm thinking Arabic
for one.
***** Moderator's Note *****
I can think of a lot of reasons for everyone to do it, but the fact
is that very few people are willing to buck the system in that way:
it's the reason Tor is so seldom used.
When you start crying "Wolf!" to get attention, sooner or later the
wolf comes around to see what all the noise is about.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2013 23:56:31 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Positive Response to New iPhone Antitheft Feature
Message-ID: <p06240834cdfaa2cf25f8@[10.0.1.12]>
Positive Response to New iPhone Antitheft Feature
By BRIAN X. CHEN
JUNE 11, 2013
Thefts of Apple iPhones have become so widespread that the police
have coined the term "Apple picking" to describe the crime. Apple
says it has come up with a solution for the problem, and legal
officials are already showing thanks to the company.
Apple on Monday said its next mobile operating system, iOS 7, due out
in the fall, will include a feature called Activation Lock that
should help deter theft. The feature disables the iPhone even if a
thief has turned it off or erased the data on the phone. It can be
reactivated only after the user logs into it with the right Apple ID
and password.
...
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/positive-response-to-new-iphone-antitheft-feature/
***** Moderator's Note *****
Anti-theft software is nice in theory, but it has a weakness: it only
benefits the phone's owner.
I saw a story on 60 Minutes a while back, about a thief who
specialized in lifting high-end stereos from luxury automobiles. He
told the interviewer how some dealers tried to use the "antilock"
codes to cheat him out of some of the money he wanted, to obtain
"replacement parts" for cars their customers brought in after the
radios had been stolen.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2013 13:23:14 -0400
From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Remedies for Better Cellphone Signal and Quality
Message-ID: <MPG.2c40cb125534bdf4989e1d@news.eternal-september.org>
In article <20130705051401.GA17423@telecom.csail.mit.edu>,
bill@horneQRM.net says...
> Oh, Ghod, that's just so far off the road that Bambi is running away
> at this very moment. The "predecessor" to cellphone voice calls was
> IMTS, which had all the problems associated with connecting a RADIO
> to a telephone line, coupled with the impedimenta of a trunk-mounted
> transceiver, a roof mounted antenna, and a gargantuan control head
> that took up more space than a CB set, and a special alternator to
> handle the current drain.
This part amuses me. I've installed a number of mobile amateur radio
rigs. One of the first rules is to wire directly to the battery and
bypass the alternator. And both leads get fused in that setup.
Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2013 21:24:08 +0000 (UTC)
From: David Lesher <wb8foz@panix.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Needed, conference calling
Message-ID: <kr7dhn$l6f$1@reader2.panix.com>
I'm again seeking a vendor for a conference bridge service.
There are free ones, but they are worth what you pay for
them.
Features needed/wanted:
a) non-800 numbers, likely in the 202 area [Some flexibility
there]
b) Less than 50 users.
c) A https: web-based control panel for the moderator; she can
see all callers, mute them, disconnect them, and see hand-raise
requests.
d) A permanent phone book listing users. In other words, we
admit a caller, get their name, & enter it to show on the
control panel. The NEXT conference, when they call in, it again
shows their name.
e) Security: The moderator must enable/disable the conference
using different authentication than the users. (Or better,
from the https: control page.) The moderator can set the user
authentication code.
I'm in the past found most suppliers fail on one or more of these.
Any suggestions welcomed....
--
A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2013 23:55:06 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Disruptions: Mobile Competition Shifts to Software Design
Message-ID: <p06240833cdfaa2670dcc@[10.0.1.12]>
Disruptions: Mobile Competition Shifts to Software Design
By NICK BILTON
JUNE 16, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO - Last week, Timothy D. Cook, Apple's chief executive,
stood on stage at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference
without a new version of the iPhone or the iPad or some new device.
After showing off new laptop computers and a new, cylindrical Mac
Pro, Mr. Cook and other Apple executives spent the rest of their
two-hour keynote address discussing the features of Apple's latest
mobile operating system, iOS 7. With the image of a flattened
smartphone interface with thin typography on a screen in the
background, Mr. Cook proudly noted, "This is the biggest change to
iOS since the introduction of the iPhone."
How does he figure that?
Mr. Cook's bold claim was based on something that is well understood
in tech circles but is easily overlooked by consumers. It is the
design of the software, far more than the look and feel of the device
itself, that allows a company to leap over its competitors.
Hardware features like processing speed or screen resolution or even
how well a camera works offer only fleeting advantages in the
constant competition among smartphone manufacturers. And with more
than a billion smartphones in the world today, much of them with the
same rectangular design meant to fit in your hand yet large enough to
be used as a phone, it is hard to imagine a breakthrough in their
general look.
But changes to the software are limited only by the skill and
creativity of a company's engineers and designers and are not as
easily mimicked since they appeal to softer notions like "experience"
rather than speed or weight.
...
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/disruptions-mobile-competition-shifts-to-software-design/
***** Moderator's Note *****
That's all very nice, but can I set it to run HDOS in STANDALONE mode? ;-)
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2013 23:58:56 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Real Estate Apps for Google Glass
Message-ID: <p06240836cdfaa3474241@[10.0.1.12]>
Real Estate Apps for Google Glass
By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER
JUNE 6, 2013
5:36 p.m. | Updated to add that Zillow is also planning apps for Glass.
Walk down a street wearing Google Glass, and you can see alerts about
nearby houses on the market.
The alerts are courtesy of Trulia, the real estate site, which this
week introduced an app for Google Glass. It is one of only a handful
of apps available for the Internet-connected glasses, and is an
example of how software developers are experimenting with the new
device.
Trulia's app sends alerts for houses that the service thinks users
want to see, whether because of criteria they have previously given
Trulia or because of the types of houses in which they have shown
interest. On Google Glass, people can scroll through photographs, get
walking directions to a house, hear a description, save a listing to
an account and call or e-mail a real estate agent.
Like Yelp or Google Maps, real estate sites like Trulia are an
example of services that are often more helpful on mobile devices
than on computers, because people use them to learn more about their
current location. More than half of weekend traffic and a majority of
leads for real estate agents come from mobile devices, according to
Trulia.
But the app raises the question of whether people want to see the
information pushed to a screen in front of their eyes.
...
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/trulias-google-glass-app-shows-nearby-real-estate-listings/
***** Moderator's Note *****
The problem I see here is that Trulia and similar sites are mostly
useful for eliminating houses from a prospective buyer's "must see"
list. Nobody is going to buy a home that they haven't been in, and no
matter how much information a user can get from the web, the limiting
factors remain the same as they have always been: distance and travel
time.
Mobil Oil had some sort of RFID device that they were pushing a few
years back: it allowed customers to wave their "watch fob" at the
pump, and buy gas without the bother of swiping a credit card.
Consumers rejected it when they realized that it didn't make the
gas pump go any faster.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2013 23:09:22 -0700
From: "Harold Hallikainen" <harold@hallikainen.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Remedies for Better Cellphone Signal and Quality
Message-ID: <f15f97477082a74f2abf567b9f60ef11.squirrel@louise.hallikainen.org>
I do think the writer has a valid point regarding voice quality (and
latency) on cellular phones. When given a choice, I will place calls by
POTS. The voice quality is much better and the latency is much lower. My
old cellphone also sounded much better and had lower latency. It was
analog. Now, though we've gained spectrum efficiency, the experience of a
phone call on cellular is just tolerable. We put up with it for the
convenience of mobility. But, if I really want to call someone, I'll use a
real phone.
Remember the Sprint "pin drop" TV ads? Could a cellular company
differentiate their service by offering quality audio?
There also is talk of abandoning circuit based telephony for packet (IP)
based. For those using VoIP, how is the latency? Is it easy to carry on a
conversation?
Harold
--
FCC Rules Updated Daily at
http://www.hallikainen.com
- Advertising
opportunities available!
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