Archive for the “Local Tech Notes” Category

My next Tech Beat article which should be published on Thursday in the Times-Standard is all about network insecurity. Among the issues I discuss is the poor application of passwords: Using common words or simple number strings instead of harder to crack strings of letters, numbers and punctuation. Now along comes this New York Times article that claims that the use of the password system is itself a big security hole no matter how complex the passwords are.

But the article doesn’t give really good reasons why the password login system is worthless. Of course, it can be circumvented any number of ways, but usually not without the unwitting help of the user such as succumbing to phising schemes. But being careful with passwords is all part of a comprehensive approach to network security, which I discuss. And the article doesn’t offer a good alternative except in theory.

So, practice safe Internet and use good passwords until something better comes along.

Technorati Tags: internet security, passwords

The Eureka Reporter web site is down for the second time in two days. And this is the third time recently. After losing the recent court battle over legal notices and losing Glenn Franco Simmons as editor is this another sign that things are falling apart over there?

I’m spending a week in Michigan near Detroit on family stuff. Lots of things going on. Barack Obama and John McCain both made appearances nearby, the PGA is making traffic on some roads difficult, and the mayor of Detroit just got hauled off to jail for skipping bail…twice.

Unfortunately, where we’re staying has no Internet access. Nothing. Not even a dial up modem. To get online I have to go out on the front porch and try to hop on a neighbor’s open wireless network (my Mac hunts and hunts and finds ‘linksys’). Depending on the cloud cover, the wind, a car going by I can stay on for 10 seconds, sometimes 10 minutes. At night the light from the laptop attracts hordes of bugs and I go to bed scratching.

But just a few miles away, the local library has wifi access throughout their facility. Not only that, they have these great tables set up with lamps in the middle that have outlets for you power cord. They want you come in and be comfortable and use their facility. It’s a wonderful library with large reading and study areas and even a café.

I am so glad the Eureka branch of the Humboldt County Library finally got wireless capabilities so people in a situation similar to mine can get Internet access. If I hadn’t found this place I would have had to spend an inordinate amount of time and money at Starbucks.

Technorati Tags: humboldt county library, library access, WiFi

The next Broadband Forum is set for Auguts 21 at Fortuna’s River Lodge,  8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. According to a email from Connie Stewart, the theme for this year is “Rural Connections: From Grassroots to Treetops: Getting Broadband to All of the Redwood Coast“.

The keynote speaker will be Sunne McPeak, President and Chief Executive Officer, California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF). The Forum will also feature presentations from “leaders in technology development.”  The email continues:

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT:
Recent events have demonstrated the critical role that
telecommunications plays in the economic and social health of
our community. There’s money on the table and political
will to bring broadband to rural communities like ours, but we
need to develop strong public/private partnerships and work
together to make this happen! In addition, local participants
will receive critical education on statewide and national policy
and funding trends that will affect our broadband future.

The invitation to attend is for “…elected officials, city managers, county administrators, economic and community development professionals, tribal representatives, and community leaders from Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity Counties.” So if  you are, or think you are, one of those AND you want a free lunch, you can contact Connie Stewart or call (707) 445-7014 to reserve a spot.

You can download the agenda here.

The film Humboldt County that actually had footage shot here a couple years ago is finally getting a commercial release. It’s official release date is September 26th in the following locations:

• Portland, Oregon
• Seattle, Washington
• San Francisco, California
• Humboldt County, California
• Chicago, Illinois
• Austin, Texas

Humboldt County Film Poster

But if you’re lucky enough to get a ticket, there will be a showing as part of the WildRivers 101 Film Festival on August 27th at the Eureka Theater. It will be interesting to see how this film turns out. In spite of what the directors claim (that it’s a character driven movie), pot and pot growing are central elements of the film from everything I have seen. If you want to help promote the film, the directors have a grassroots marketing plan they would love to have you participate in.

However the Humboldt County movie fares, the WildRivers 101 Film Festival has a lot of great stuff in store for us in terms of our own film and media industry. Their web site isn’t updated yet, but according to festival director Mary Cruse, here is a list of events:

The 12-day event kicks off with the local premier of the film, HUMBOLDT COUNTY, at the Eureka Theatre at 7 pm, Wed., Aug. 27. This year’s theme is Humboldt County and technology,  with a Localpalooza night, screening feature films made locally, including REMOTE CONTROL GRANDPA, and WHERE THERE’S SMOKE - about woodland California firefighters, including Honeydew volunteer fire department members.

Independent cinema will be embraced by indie icon, actress Karen Black, and many other visiting filmmakers.

There will also be screenings in the Humboldt Redwoods State Parks, and a section of the guide promoting our parks. All proceeds of those events will go to recreation programs in our local Parks.

Also, there will be an all-day digital media event, which was a big hit last year. This will take place on Sept. 6, in Eureka.  The focus of this year’s presentations will be interactive media (video game design, mobisodes, webisodes), how to make money on short content media (through national ads, internet, other methods of distribution), the importance of editing and sound design, and more, as well as an actor’s workshop at the Eureka Theatre.

Stay tuned…

Technorati Tags: censorship, film, humboldt county, mpaa, pot, weed, wild rivers 101 film festival

Thursday Night Talk on KHSU is all about blogging and local blogs. Marcy Burstiner hosts with the Carson Park Ranger helping explain the scene.

Technorati Tags: blogging, khsu, local blogs, thursday night talk

A couple posts back I wrote about the Zero dirt bike and the possibilities of a street version. Well, it took a

while, but I have some more information on that. According to Bryan Parnham, Factory Coordinator for Zero Motorcycles, they will be producing a street model which is planned for production mid to late November.

The good news is that the Zero S will be a beefed up model.  “As far as performance we are looking to achieve freeway capable speeds (65mph) with a range of 60 miles to the charge,” according to Mr. Parnham. Very nice.

But along with the increased power and range, comes an increase in the price. They are expecting the Zero S to sell for around $9300 (plus shipping). The dirt bike is about $2,000 less. Even so, they already have a waiting list for the new bikes. That’s a lot of cash to spend in order to save the world. But then there’s all the money I’d save on gas! If it could pull a little trailer for my kayak, I just might be tempted…

My apologies to Mr. Dick for screwing with his title.

Technorati Tags: electric motorcycle, no gas, street bike, zero motorcycle

Here’s some good news amidst all the doom and gloom: A free software solution to help you find your lost or stolen laptop. Researchers at the University of Washington have released a service called Adeona. You simply download a small application and once installed it starts sending location notices to a hosted service. If your laptop ever goes missing you download and another another program (assuming you have access to another computer) and enter the password you set up originally. This program will start retrieving the location information of your laptop from the servers. There is a version for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. And the Mac version can even take snapshots so you can catch the dirty thief on camera.

Technorati Tags: free software, stolen laptop

The Eureka Reporter had an interesting article this week about Zero Motorcycles. These dirt bikes are electric with no noise and zero emissions. Apparently you can view one at Bedliners Plus at 1326 Koster Lane off Broadway in Eureka.

But the real news is that the company expects to come out with a street legal version this summer. The current off road model costs $7450 (plus shipping) and you can order them from their web site. No information is on their site as to when exactly the new bikes will be available nor how much they will cost. The current dirt bikes can go up to 60 mph, have a range of 40 miles and take 2 hours to fully recharge. Of course, while you may not be making any noise or belting out pollutants, most of the electricty we use is still generated by burning fossil fuels (71.4%) so you will still be in the global warming tar pit.

Technorati Tags: electric motorcycle, fossil fuels, global warming

Just in time for Apple’s release of their new 3G IPhone on July 11, Edge Wireless was absorbed by AT&T, so apparently they will be selling and supporting the IPhone at the local Edge store. But if you’ve ever tried getting support or real information from AT&T you will recognize the customer service at the new AT&T/Edge. Try calling and pushing the buttons to get a sales person. Voice mail. Except you can’t leave them a message. Try going in to the store: When I was there the room was crowded with people waiting for service, and no sign that the line would change any time soon, except by people leaving out of frustration. One of them was me.

So here’s the big problem: The new IPhone is much cheaper than the old IPhone. But the data plan rates through AT&T are going up. So, over the life of the contract you have to sign, the net you pay is actually more. Of course, AT&T would say the increase is justified because of the 3G network. Unfortunately, that higher speed network is only available in certain urban areas. Eureka is certainly not one of them. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. And I couldn’t get anyone to tell me otherwise. And I would be very surprised if the higher speed network will be coming here any time soon.

So, you can now get an IPhone locally but you will have to pay for service you don’t get to use and you will have to put up with AT&T customer service. Man, they don’t make it easy.

Technorati Tags: 3G, at&t, iphone

Email has become as essential to personal and business communication as the phone. Perhaps more so. But just as people are increasingly dependent on email, it is becoming more unreliable and burdensome as a vehicle for discourse.

First, there’s the overflowing inbox. There are web sites and systems dedicated to controlling and emptying your inbox so that you actually get real work done. If you don’t have a good spam filter, either at your host’s level, or in your personal email program, sifting through the slag to get to the real stuff is a HUGE waste of time. If you do have a good spam filter there is the danger of missing something improperly tagged or deleted as spam, thus raising the unreliability factor.

As a web host, email problems comprise at least 90% of all support issues. Most of the time the problem lies at the client end where email programs malfunction or are improperly configured. Another major problem is also related to spam where a client complains that email they are sending to specific addresses is not being delivered. A quick search of the mail server records indicate the messages are being delivered without errors. So, the problem is on the receiver end where improperly configured spam filters are diverting legitimate email. Convincing the client of this is another problem.

The burden of maintaining email services both from a hardware/software standpoint and a human resource standpoint continue to mount. At lease one major web hosting company has thrown up their hands and is encouraging their clients to use Gmail for their email service. This has raised a pretty big controversy in the web hosting industry and it will be interesting to see where this leads. I am not ready to outsource email hosting, but I am constantly looking for ways to reduce the burden on servers and personnel.