Dial-up is slow

While visiting Carole here in Georgia for the New Year’s holiday, I only have access to the Internet through a dial-up connection, and boy am I reminded of how thankful I am for my connection through Comcast. Dial-up access is agonizingly slow! It helps me understand why Carole is less enthusiastic about accessing the Internet than I am, even taking into account the differences in our level of experience with being online. The occasional problems she may experience caused by clicking on the wrong link are far more difficult to recover from than they would be if she had any kind of reasonable broadband connection. As they say, “you don’t appreciate the water until the well runs dry.”

All-in-one printers

My friend, Juan Gutierrez, asked last night “what is the best all-in-one printer to buy,” and I gave him the best advice I have probably ever given. I said, “you should ask someone who knows.”

Seriously, I told him that I really don’t have any experience with these devices and I gave him some general advice about researching the issue, but then I realized I could also tap into the expertise of those of you who read this blog and invite you to comment on Juan’s question. I’m sure his concern is to balance the best quality with the best price, or at least that would be my goal if I were asking the question.

As background, he has some personal experience with the HP D-135 all-in-one printer that his former company recommended he get for his home office, so in a very real sense he is more an expert than I. However, he did not mention in his initial email why he needs a new one, whether the old one doesn’t work or whether he is just interested in more and better features. Juan, if you’ll comment on this post, you can expand on your reasons for upgrading and perhaps that would help other commenters give you better advice.

Okay, folks. Share you expertise please. If you were going to buy an all-in-one printer (printer, copier, scanner, and fax), which one would you buy and why?

Merry Christmas

… to all of you who read this blog. Here is my Christmas card to you.

Elation

Connor, who is 19 months old, shows us old hands how to appreciate a Christmas gift.  I think his reaction is priceless.

His Grandma Sandy and her friend Donnie shared their Christmas with Mike and his family at brunch today, and the two families exchanged gifts early because there are so many different branches of the family for whom time must be scheduled.  I’m sure they were very gratified by Connor’s reaction.  Also Mike did a great job in capturing Connor’s expression at the exact moment he gets his first taste of the joy of receiving a Christmas gift.  Reactions such as Connor’s help explain the axiom that “it is more blessed to give than receive,” though he looks like he thinks receiving is pretty special too.

Gadgets

Apparently technology does have some limits.

My Christmas gift

Could anyone wish for anything more for Christmas?

Movies

I don’t go to the movies much any more, and certainly not with the frequency I did as a child when you could get into a movie for $0.25.  Usually I wait until a movie comes out on DVD and, if I am really interested, I rent and watch it.  And no, I’m not such a movie fan that I have a Netflix account.  However, I have a friend or two who are really movie buffs and who like to see the movies as soon as they come out.  Tom is one such friend, and he and I plan to attend a movie this coming Saturday afternoon as a way to celebrate the holidays together. 

When we agreed by email this morning to see The Pursuit of Happyness together, he mentioned that he would check to see when and where it was playing locally.  That caused me to recall a web service I had discovered previously but had forgotten about, I guess because I go to the moves so infrequently.  The service is Fandango.  All you need to do to see what is playing is enter your zip code into the search box and click go. 

If that’s all the information you want or need, then you can stop there.  However, you can purchase tickets online for a specific performance if you wish, and they also offer other services such as Fandango Bucks, that you can print out if you would like to give a trip to see a movie as a gift.  Here is what the email for one of those looks like.  Even for someone like me who goes to the movies only about once a year, if that often, this is yet another example of the wonderful things that being connected through the world wide web makes possible. 

ASCII Art

Long ago before the World Wide Web came to be, I, like many others, became fascinated with the fact that I could use my computer to communicate with people from across the country and around the world by participating in a BBS.  Using a dial-up connection, I would connect to a BBS System here in Knoxville and login to one of its SIGs (Special Interest Groups) called ILink Writers.  This particular SIG was populated by a diverse and talented group of people who enjoyed the act of writing about an almost unlimited number of subjects.  It was during this time that the writing of one Paul Moor, who has since that time become a dear friend for about 15 years now, first caught my eye.  Not all the writers in that group were professionals (after all, I was one of them), but all of them were quite skilled at their craft, and I derived hours of enjoyment getting to know them and having the chance to interact with them. 

During those years, given the limitations of the computer systems of the time, people would attempt to create “pictures” in their messages and postings by just using ASCII characters.  This became known as ASCII art.  A very specialized version of ASCII art was animated ASCII Art.  Following that last link will illustrate a very basic example of that ingenious type of creativity. 

This morning I came across this link at the URLgreyhot blog to a much more elaborate example of animated ASCII art that recreates Star Wars Episode IV in ASCII.  I can’t begin to guess how many hours this person (Simon Jansen) spent in producing this amazing feat of creativity.  George Lucas it isn’t, but it is mind-blowing nonetheless. 

Skype

As I’ve mentioned many times, I love Skype. My friend, Paul Moor who lives in Berlin, and I talk almost every day using its computer-to-computer connection. During 2006, the good folks at Skype made calling any phone in the U. S. or Canada, regardless of whether the other party had Skype installed, free until December 31, 2006, and I’ve used that feature a number of times with good results. The sound quality is good and the ability to talk with my hands free to type or otherwise use my computer is something I really appreciate. In addition, I have used Hot Recorder to record some of those conversations and use them in audio blog posts.

At the beginning of the new year, Skype will begin charging for the privilege of making those calls to landlines or cell phones in the U. S. and Canada for what seems to me to be a reasonable fee of $29.95 for the entire year. However, if you sign up for this feature before January 31st, you can get it for $14.95 for the entire year. Here is the link to that offer. Computer-to-computer Skype calls to anywhere in the world remain free of course. This fee is for unlimited calling to landlines and cell phones in the U. S. and Canada, so this appears to be one of those times when buying early and avoiding the rush is a wise choice.

Seasons Greetings

Here’s the text of the first email I sent out today. (Names omitted for the usual reasons.)

Dear friend,

I’m addressing this message to you because I have, in the past, received a number of Word files from you as attachments to your messages. My purpose in sending it to you is not to single you out, accuse you or blame you but rather to alert you to this issue, and besides I had to have someone to address the message to, so that I could copy the others on my BCC.

This Microsoft Security Bulletin, dated December 5, 2006, http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/929433.mspx, documents a so-called “zero day” vulnerability in Microsoft Word that could allow remote code execution. Feel free to visit the Microsoft site and read the full bulletin for yourself, but I provide “my” summary in this message for your convenience.

The vulnerability affects these Microsoft products: Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Word Viewer 2003, Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac, and Microsoft Word 2004 v. X for Mac, as well as Microsoft Works 2004, 2005, and 2006.

Here is the important part.

“In order for this attack to be carried out, a user must first open a malicious Word file attached to an e-mail or otherwise provided to them by an attacker.”

As with all such vulnerabilities, this one is a severe pain in the butt, since it is frequently useful to be able to share files with friends and associates in this format, but I suppose it is just one of the prices we must pay for the ease and convenience of being connected electronically.

Since the approaching Holiday Season presents an occasion to send “all your friends” a Word file containing pictures of your family and a narrative that explains all the wonderful things that have happened to you during the past year as well as your wishes for the season, you may be tempted to send such a document electronically. I urge you not to do it. Call me Scrooge if you wish, but I’m not opening any such documents I receive. A plain-text email with a wish for a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or Happy New Year will get read; an attached Word document won’t.

If you want me to look at your Word document that you so carefully composed, print it out and mail it in the U. S. Mail. At least that way, all I have to worry about is Anthrax or a letter bomb, both of which are at least modestly more difficult to create.

As they say, Happy Friggin’ Holidays!