KC8DNE.com

If you have been looking for a PC case that is different from all the rest, look no further.

When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) into law on July 4, 1966, he gave the American people a powerful tool to shine the light of openness and accountability into the darkened corners of government agencies. As it stands today, however, government agencies often take months or even years to respond to FOIA requests. Some delays have even lasted 20 years or more!

A new, bipartisan bill — the OPEN Government Act (S. 849), introduced by Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Cornyn (R-TX) — is designed to end the backlog and ensure FOIA requests are met in a timely manner. The bill would provide FOIA requesters with a tracking number, enabling them to follow the status of their request. It would also impose reasonable consequences on federal agencies that miss deadlines for complying.

Right now, this bill has been stopped dead in its tracks by the underhanded actions of a single, lone senator, Jon Kyl of Arizona. He has put a not-so-secret “hold” on this important legislation, preventing it from coming before the full Senate for a final vote.

Please email your senators today and let them know that this type of stonewalling on a piece of legislation that would increase openness in government must not be allowed to stand.

Email your senators now and tell them to help lift the hold!

SOURCE: ACLU

Most Hams are DIY people. Because of that trait, a noisy ceiling fan is a cause for personal attention.

We have a couple of fans in our house that have begun to let their presence be known by making dry bearing sounds. One of them is right here in the office/ham shack. Its noise is beginning to overwhelm the output of the room’s 3.1 stereo system. I guess it is time for action.

My resident research librarian put me on to this excellent source of information about lubricating ceiling fans.

What use could you put high-speed wireless data transfers at a staggering 15Gbps at a range of one meter? Does the prospect make your mouth water?

A research group from the Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) at Georgia Tech recently released a study demonstrating the system is which is still in its infancy.

The research focuses on RF frequencies around 60 gigahertz (GHz), which are currently unlicensed—free for anyone to use—in the United States. Data rates drop off steeply with distance (10Gbps at two meters, 5Gbps at five meters), but the possibilities definitely show potential.

According to the Georgia Tech research group…

Within three years, this “multi-gigabit wireless” approach could result in a bevy of personal area network (PAN) applications, including next generation home multimedia and wireless data connections able to transfer an entire DVD in seconds.

SOURCE: Georgia Tech

A buffer overflow exploit, seemingly in the Safari web browser, allows arbitrary code to be executed as root on the new Apple iPhone. That exploit would give the hacker full control of the device with administrative access.

The authors of this exploit recommend that you not use unfamiliar WiFi networks, browse sites you don’t trust, or open web links from e-mails until Apple releases a patch. The authors have prepared a video explaining the risks.

SOURCE: Independent Security Evaluators

SOURCE: engadget

If you are like me and are sick of those endless loop Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems that now answer the phone at most businesses larger than a toll booth, then this tip is for you.

Gethuman is a huge database of customer service numbers and the touch-tone combinations that will get you speaking with a real human being. You can find at least 500 of those sometimes elusive free 800 nembers in their database.

The Gethuman folks remind us that that your phone company charges $1.49 or more each time you call 411. They suggest using 1-800-FREE-411.

Were it not for our government’s recent revocation of our national commitment to the democratic principals contained in the Geneva Conventions, habeas corpus, etc., this video from VortexTech would be a joke. Unfortunately, it is not.

This short video explores ways to determine if your cell phone has been compromised to act as a bug. While it’s obviously unlikely that this would happen to most people, it was recently revealed that the FBI has used this technique, and just as illicit wiretaps are possible, illicit cell phone bugging could also occur.

This video is based on Lauren Weinstein’s December 2006 blog entry: “How To Tell If Your Cell Phone Is Bugged”.

Some elephants managed to get oot of the zoo circus, according to this MP3 of police radio traffic in Toronto earlier this week: Link, related news story here. Somehow the Canadian accents make it even better. (thanks, Brian)

SOURCE: BoingBoing

The music industry really pisses me off. Let me explain the many reasons why.

First, let me make it perfectly clear that I have no objection at all to anyone making a fair profit from his or her endeavors. I do take issue with “maximizing” those profits, however. When one attempts to maximize profits details like morality, humanity and honesty often seem to be overlooked in the search for another dollar.

After a fifty year history of trying to force on the public whatever crap was the most profitable to themselves (remember payola and all those lawsuits to recover artist’s and composer’s unfairly withheld revenue), recording companies saw in the Internet a real threat to their stranglehold on our ears.

Streaming Internet “radio” stations and podcasts were a real threat to the companies’ status quo because the cheeky bastards on the Internet were actually playing what they (and apparently the public) wanted to hear, instead of following the “list”. Having paid big money to determine the content of the “list”, the companies saw red—ink that is.

So, what else would you expect from the folks who think it is a good business practice to:

• Randomly sue their 12 tear old customers (P2P file sharing)
• Try to kill a medium that brought the first excitement to the industry in decades (Burning mix CDs)
• Attempt to shut down a medium that held the promise for the growth of the industry beyond a few huge companies (Streaming audio)
• Attempt to shut down a source of news about, and a showcase for music samples by, new artists and composers. (Podcasts)

Fortunately, Internet delivered free music got a temporary reprieve on Friday. What happens next depends on whether you demonstrate your disgust with maximized profits in all industries by holding your elected representatives in Washington’s toes to the fire and how you vote in the next Federal election.

I suggest that you read this complete article about the delay in overcharging Internet music programmers that appeared in the New York Times.