Category: Computers, Science & Technology

Dr. Bill pontificates on all things technical!

Twist on the “Free Vista Notebooks!”

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So here’s the controversy: Microsoft decided to give away free (very NICE) Acer Ferrari 1000 notebooks with Vista pre-loaded to some bloggers to get a “buzz” going about Vista. A) Not a bad marketing plan, B) Wonder why they didn’t send me one? (Hummmmmm… OK, maybe I know why!) But one blogger they sent the notebook to is auctioning it off, with the proceeds to go to the EFF! Ohhh… that is cool! The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) is a donor-funded non-profit and depends on contributions to support it’s efforts to defend our digital rights. Gotta love that!

Windows Vista Laptop on eBay, Proceeds Going To EFF

“So regarding my infamous Acer Ferrari 1000 Windows Vista laptop (one of several sent to bloggers which are stirring up a quite a bit of controversy), I think the best thing to do at this point is auction it off on eBay and donate the proceeds from the auction to one of my favorite non-profits, The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Honestly, I’m not really the right person to do a proper review of Windows Vista and at this point, it is still unclear why I was even selected to receive it, not to mention the fact that there has been quite a bit of inconsistency regarding what Microsoft, AMD and Edelman wanted people to do with the laptop after they were done testing it. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate being included, but now I think it’s time to move on. I’ll purchase the Windows Vista upgrade when it comes out as I had originally planned on doing. I’m starting the auction today (in the US only) and it will end in 7 days on January 4th. This will give me some more time to test out the laptop some more and see what Windows Vista is like, before it is sold to someone who will really benefit from having it, possibly even someone who will be able to give it a proper review.”

Oh, by the way, Microsoft NOW claims (since the whole controversy started in the “blogosphere” that they were only LENDING the notebooks to bloggers. They now want them back! Talk about making a bad move worse!

A New Year… A New Look!

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So, we have a new look for the ol’ Blog! What thinkest thou? I think it is a little cleaner, and a little geekier… so I like it. Also, there is a new header bar with buttons… cool, huh? And, overall the Blog theme expresses the essence of “computer curmudgeon-ness” as well. Note that my “Dr. Bill” icon in the header is in the position of the CPU in the circuit board. Like I am the “brain” of the Blog. Note the deep symbolism. Yeeesss! Whoa! I stayed up too late last night working on this didn’t I?

Stop Those Pesky WiFi’ers… Okay.

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Why would you want to? Well, maybe security? Not me… but if you need to, here’s an “Open Source” hardware project that will auto-tune and do it!

Wave Bubble RF Jammer

So, now you can jam those pesky Wi-Fi users. Riiight! Whatever floats your boat… but, it IS interesting!

“This website details the design and construction Wave Bubble: a self-tuning, wide-bandwidth portable RF jammer. The device is lightweight and small for easy camoflauging: it is the size of a pack of cigarettes. An internal lithium-ion battery provides up to 2 hours of jamming (two bands, such as cell) or 4 hours (single band, such as cordless phone, GPS, WiFi, bluetooth, etc). The battery is rechargeable via a mini-USB connector or 4mm DC jack (a common size). Alternately, 3 AAA batteries may also be used. Output power is .1W (high bands) and .3W (low bands). Effective range is approximately 20′ radius with well-tuned antennas. Less so with the internal antennas or poorly matched antennas. Self-tuning is provided via dual PLL, therefore, no spectrum analyzer is necessary to build this jammer and a single Wave Bubble can jam many different frequency bands – unlike any other design currently available! To reconfigure the RF bands, simply plug it into the USB port of your PC and type in the new frequencies when prompted. Multiple frequency ranges can be programmed in, each time the device is power cycled it will advance to the next program in memory. While the documentation here is both accurate and complete (as much as possible), the construction of such a device is still an advanced project. I would not suggest this as even an ‘intermediate’ skill project, considering the large amount of difficult SMT soldering (multiple TSSOP and SOT chips, 0603 RC’s), obscure parts, and equipment necessary to properly construct and debug. This design is not for sale or available as a kit and never will be due to FCC regulations. Please do not ask me to assist you in such matters. All original content for this project is distributed open source under Creative Commons 2.5 Attribution / Share-Alike.”

Oh, and did I mention it is also HIGHLY illegal? Hummmm…

Microsoft Zune Now Compatible with Microsoft Vista!

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Amazing! They fixed it! (OK, I am being facetious!)

MS Adds Vista Compatibility to Zune

“Microsoft issued its second firmware update for its Zune music device on Tuesday, offering stability and performance improvements. In addition, the company updated the device to make it compatible with Microsoft’s next-generation operating system, Windows Vista. The update is now available from the Zune Web site. The company had originally scheduled to make such functionality available in conjunction with the consumer release of the OS in January, however the company received some criticism for not offering compatibility out of the box. ‘It is plumbing stuff, but it is stuff customers will notice and appreciate,’ Zune marketing director Jason Reindorp said recently of the update.”

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