The Telecom Digest for August 17, 2010
Volume 29 : Issue 222 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
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Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 15:31:15 -0400
From: "Gary" <bogus-email@hotmail.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Do rate centers cross state lines?
Message-ID: <i46que$iat$1@news.eternal-september.org>
"Al Gillis" <al.1020@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4c6609f5$0$86441$39cecf19@news.twtelecom.net...
> So Fred - Using Google maps to look at Lost Peninsula I noticed a
> lot of "blurred out" territory there. Any idea what's so important
> to make Google blur it? Some major concentration of communications
> equipment? A major DOD installation? Or just a bunch of rich guys
> yachts they don't want us looking at?
Look at it through another mapping site. Using "bing," it isn't blurred
out. It's a bunch of boat slips.
However, judging by the shape of the "harbor," it appears to be man made and
may have served larger ships or even subs at some point. Maybe that's why
Google blurred it. But that's just my wild guess.
-Gary
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:02:27 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Web Photos That Reveal Secrets, Like Where You Live
Message-ID: <p06240814c88d1709bb4d@[10.0.1.6]>
Web Photos That Reveal Secrets, Like Where You Live
By KATE MURPHY
The New York Times
August 11, 2010
When Adam Savage, host of the popular science program "MythBusters,"
posted a picture on Twitter of his automobile parked in front of his
house, he let his fans know much more than that he drove a Toyota
Land Cruiser.
Embedded in the image was a geotag, a bit of data providing the
longitude and latitude of where the photo was taken. Hence, he
revealed exactly where he lived. And since the accompanying text was
"Now it's off to work," potential thieves knew he would not be at
home.
Security experts and privacy advocates have recently begun warning
about the potential dangers of geotags, which are embedded in photos
and videos taken with GPS-equipped smartphones and digital cameras.
Because the location data is not visible to the casual viewer, the
concern is that many people may not realize it is there; and they
could be compromising their privacy, if not their safety, when they
post geotagged media online.
Mr. Savage said he knew about geotags. (He should, as host of a show
popular with technology followers.) But he said he had neglected to
disable the function on his iPhone before taking the picture and
uploading it to Twitter.
...
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/technology/personaltech/12basics.html
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:43:38 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Technologies Help Adult Children Monitor Aging Parents
Message-ID: <p06240802c88d2061ebf5@[10.0.1.3]>
Technologies Help Adult Children Monitor Aging Parents
By HILARY STOUT
July 28, 2010
IN the wee hours of July 14, Elizabeth Roach, a 70-year-old widow,
got out of bed and went to the living room of her Virginia ranch
home. She sat in her favorite chair for 15 minutes, then returned to
bed.
She rose again shortly after 6, went to the kitchen, plugged in the
coffee pot, showered and took her weight and blood pressure.
Throughout the morning, she moved back and forth between the kitchen
and the living room. She opened her medicine cabinet at 12:21 and
closed it at 12:22. Immediately afterward, she opened the
refrigerator door for almost three minutes. At 1:36, she opened the
kitchen door and went outside.
All this information - including her exact weight (126 pounds) and
blood pressure reading (139/98) - was transmitted via the Internet to
her 44-year-old son, Michael Murdock, who reviewed it from his home
office in suburban Denver.
All was normal - meaning all was well.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/garden/29parents.html
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 13:30:21 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: No-text law a tough call
Message-ID: <p0624081cc88dd47ca980@[10.0.1.3]>
No-text law a tough call
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Columnist | August 15, 2010
MEDFIELD - Chief Robert E. Meaney Jr. is thrilled we finally have a
law banning texting behind the wheel in Massachusetts.
But, like a lot of police officers in this state, he's wondering: How
is he going to enforce this thing?
Meaney is police chief in a town so idyllic it makes Mayberry look
like a dump. There are occasional serious crimes here, but mostly
it's busted mailboxes and school break-ins.
Still, the affable, gray-mustached Meaney has been worried about
teens in his town. They're always on their cellphones, including when
they're behind the wheel.
The law that goes into effect Oct. 1 makes it illegal for anybody
under 18 to use a cellphone while driving.
Everybody else is free to use their cellphones for calls, but sending
or reading e-mails and texts - even at red lights - carries fines of
$100 to $500.
The law is a huge victory for road safety advocates, but it doesn't
go far enough.
Activists and some legislators hoped to prohibit not just texting for
drivers, but all hand-held phone use.
Senators batted them back, arguing that such a ban wouldn't improve
safety, since hands-free conversations are just as distracting as
hand-held ones.
The evidence on that is mixed, but one thing is clear: The only sure
way to prevent the 28 percent of auto accidents the National Safety
Council says are caused by cellphone distractions would be to ban all
phone use on the road.
And sadly, the chances of that flying in Massachusetts are porcine.
...
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/08/15/new_no_texting_law_a_tough_call_in_mass/
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 13:30:21 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Need text therapy? / Some drivers will have trouble
Message-ID: <p0624081bc88dd4018ca6@[10.0.1.3]>
Need text therapy?
Some drivers will have trouble training antsy thumbs to be idle
By Linda Matchan, Globe Staff | August 15, 2010
Ian Lathrop has given a lot of thought to how he will comply with the
state law banning texting while driving, which takes effect Oct. 1.
"I won't lie,'' confessed Lathrop, 24, who lives in Somerville. "I've
gotten texts and responded to them.''
To kick the habit, he has tried setting the ringer of his smartphone
to vibrate or silent. He has turned the phone upside down in the
cupholder so the message light is obscured. He has thought about
putting it in the glove box or on the floor.
But though he has stopped texting, for the most part, while driving,
he still finds himself checking his messages at stoplights. "If you
hear your phone, you look at it; that's just the way we're
programmed,'' said Lathrop, a gradu ate student at Emerson College.
"I think it's just going to have to be a cold turkey situation.''
Time is ticking away for habitual texters. It will not be long before
drivers caught writing or reading a text message - or e-mailing or
searching the Internet - can be fined $100, even if they do it at a
stoplight. Talking on a cellphone while driving will still be legal
for drivers over 18, but those under 18 can be cited for using a
cellphone or mobile electronic device and slapped with a $100 fine
and a 60-day license suspension.
Interviews with Boston-area texters suggest that the deadline is not
far from the minds of many Massachusetts drivers, and they are
already trying, with mixed results, to start weaning themselves from
texting in the car.
...
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2010/08/15/need_text_therapy/
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 13:31:53 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Internet firm owner tells of chagrin at FBI security letter
Message-ID: <p0624081dc88dd4dfc0d8@[10.0.1.3]>
Internet firm owner tells of chagrin at FBI security letter
By Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post | August 15, 2010
WASHINGTON - For six years, Nicholas Merrill has lived in a surreal
world of half-truths in which he could not tell his fiancee, his
closest friends, or even his mother that he is John Doe, the man who
filed the first-ever court challenge to the FBI's ability to obtain
personal data on Americans without judicial approval.
Friends mentioned the case when it was in the news, and the normally
outspoken Merrill would change the subject.
He heard the arguments at the federal courthouse, and in an
out-of-body moment he realized that no one knew he was the plaintiff
challenging the FBI's authority to issue national security letters,
as they are known, and its ability to impose a gag on the recipient.
Now, after the partial lifting of his gag order last month as a
result of an FBI settlement, Merrill, 37, can speak openly for the
first time about the experience, although he cannot disclose the full
scope of the data demanded.
...
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/08/15/internet_firm_owner_tells_of_chagrin_at_fbi_security_letter/
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 14:36:13 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: In the US, Android outsells iPhone
Message-ID: <p06240828c88de3fc4b89@[10.0.1.3]>
In the US, Android outsells iPhone
By Bloomberg News | August 13, 2010
NEW YORK - Google Inc.'s Android platform is the most popular
smartphone software in the United States, having overtaken Apple
Inc.'s iPhone and the BlackBerry from Research In Motion Ltd.,
Gartner Inc. says.
Worldwide, Android became the third-best-selling operating system in
the second quarter, with 17.2 percent of sales compared with 1.8
percent a year earlier, Gartner said yesterday. It trails Nokia Oyj's
Symbian and RIM.
...
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2010/08/13/in_the_us_android_outsells_iphone/
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 14:38:00 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Company behind magicJack to banish calling costs
Message-ID: <p06240829c88de45c622e@[10.0.1.3]>
Company behind magicJack to banish calling costs
By Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer | August 13, 2010
NEW YORK --The company behind the magicJack, the Internet phone
gadget heavily advertised on television, has another trick up its
sleeve: free phone calls from computers, smart phones and iPads.
The cost of phone calls routed over the Internet has been on a long
slide. There are already a multitude of programs that allow free
calling between computers, and some that allow free, but short, calls
to regular phone numbers. Another alternative, Google Voice, provides
"free" calls to the U.S. and Canada, but you need a phone to use it,
and if you're using a cell phone, it uses up minutes.
MagicTalk would go one better by eliminating fees for calling
landline and cell phones in the U.S. and Canada, with no time limits
on the calls.
The software will be available next week for Windows and Mac
computers. Versions for the iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Android
phones will follow in September or October, said Dan Borislow, the
CEO of VocalTec Communications Ltd.
Each magicTalk user gets a phone number that's associated with the
software. Users will also be able to move their existing phone
numbers to the service, for a fee, a feature that will be extended to
magicJack users soon as well.
The reason the calls can be free is that VocalTec operates as a phone
company, so it can charge other phone companies for calls placed to
magicTalk and magicJack numbers. It also charges its users who dial
phone numbers abroad.
Still, magicTalk will likely have slimmer profit margins than
magicJack, which costs $40 and comes with a year of free calling in
the U.S. and Canada (an extra year costs $20).
...
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2010/08/13/company_behind_magicjack_to_banish_calling_costs/
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 15:49:52 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Experts Warn of a Weak Link in the Security of Web Sites
Message-ID: <p06240830c88df5325438@[10.0.1.3]>
Experts Warn of a Weak Link in the Security of Web Sites
By MIGUEL HELFT
August 13, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO - Computer security researchers are raising alarms
about vulnerabilities in some of the Web's most secure corners: the
banking, e-commerce and other sites that use encryption to
communicate with their users.
Those sites, which are typically identified by a closed lock
displayed somewhere in the Web browser, rely on a third-party
organization to issue a certificate that guarantees to a user's Web
browser that the sites are authentic. But as the number of such
third-party "certificate authorities" has proliferated into hundreds
spread across the world, it has become increasingly difficult to
trust that those who issue the certificates are not misusing them to
eavesdrop on the activities of Internet users, the security experts
say.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/technology/14encrypt.html
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:51:06 -0800
From: John David Galt <jdg@diogenes.sacramento.ca.us>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Update for iPhone and iPod touch
Message-ID: <i49d0m$kbn$1@blue.rahul.net>
Monty Solomon wrote:
> APPLE-SA-2010-08-11-1 iOS 4.0.2 Update for iPhone and iPod touch
>
> iOS 4.0.2 Update for iPhone and iPod touch is now available and
> addresses the following:
This update disables the ability to jailbreak your iPhone using
JailBreakMe.com, so if you want to do that, you shouldn't update.
Discussion of how the exploit works is at http://blog.iphone-dev.org/
If you're really worried about people using this or other Adobe hacks to
install malware on your system (which can also work on desktop PCs), tips
for protecting yourself are at
http://feeds.avg.com/~r/avgblogs_rogerthompson/~3/7uc3RTTsBig/how-to-secure-adobe-reader.html
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:57:44 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: MetroWest Medical offers ER wait times via texts
Message-ID: <p06240834c88e88122f5a@[10.0.1.3]>
MetroWest Medical offers ER wait times via texts
By Michael Morton/Daily News staff
The MetroWest Daily News
Posted Aug 15, 2010 @ 11:26 PM
R U headed 2 the ER?
Well, potential MetroWest Medical Center patients with cell phones
and less urgent health problems can now find out wait times thanks to
the latest technology employed by the hospital network: text
messaging.
...
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/lifestyle/health/x316188885/MetroWest-Medical-offers-ER-wait-times-via-texts
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 13:53:07 -0500
From: Jim Haynes <jhaynes@cavern.uark.edu>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Model 15 RO Teletype available (OT)
Message-ID: <ToGdndKyQKWOe_vRnZ2dnUVZ_oKdnZ2d@earthlink.com>
> In a message dated 8/11/2010 8:04:33 PM Central Daylight Time,
> the Telecom Digest Moderator commented:
>
>> ***** Moderator's Note *****
>>
>> I don't know how an operator could "get ahead" of the reader: the
>> Model 19's keyboard was driven by the same shaft as the printing
>> mechanism, so I don't understand how it was possible to exceed the
>> reader's speed.
That's only when the Model 19 set was in "Keyboard-Tape" mode, so that
the keyboard ran the signal generator as well as the punch. (Which
is necessary if you want to get local copy on the printer of what you
are punching) If you put the set in "Tape" mode then the keyboard
runs the punch alone, punching "blind", and can go considerably faster
than the signal generator. There are also keyboard perforators that
don't do anything else, and they can run pretty fast.
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:50:01 -0400
From: Fred Goldstein <fgoldstein.SeeSigSpambait@wn2.wn.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Do rate centers cross state lines?
Message-ID: <20100815155006.8BABE30922@mailout.easydns.com>
On Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:13:59 -0700, Al Gillis asked,
>...
>So Fred - Using Google maps to look at Lost Peninsula I noticed a lot of
>"blurred out" territory there. Any idea what's so important to make Google
>blur it? Some major concentration of communications equipment? A major DOD
>installation? Or just a bunch of rich guys yachts they don't want us
>looking at?
>
>
>***** Moderator's Note *****
>
>It's the home of the Last Testman: a place sacred to all who labored
>at the shrine of the great Wheatstone.
I don't know why Google blurred it; I wondered too. But I looked on
Bing and it was in focus. It looks like some kind of parking lot for
small boats, a big marina or something.
--
Fred Goldstein k1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com
ionary Consulting http://www.ionary.com/
+1 617 795 2701
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End of The Telecom Digest (13 messages)
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