Fatty Zapper, Makes Patty Perfect!

02:00 AM May. 25, 2004 PT

Fighting the flab when it's at the stage of morbid obesity is no picnic. A new device may soon ease the battle by sending electrical pulses to the patient's stomach, tricking him into thinking he is full.

The Transcend Implantable Gastric Stimulator features a pocket watch-sized gizmo implanted just below the rib cage. "It's an electrical pulse generator similar to a heart pacemaker with wiring, called the lead, that's attached to the muscle wall of the stomach," said Dr. Scott Shikora, surgeon and associate director of the Obesity Consult Center at Tufts-New England Medical Center.

Sony screws the pooch... How Sony Cemented iPod's Supremacy


By Jeremy Horwitz
May 19, 2004

In the March 2004 article "Heir to Walkman's Throne," iPodlounge examined three companies - Sony, Microsoft, and Apple - and the products they have touted as successors to Sony's Walkman, or "iPod killers." We ended the article without reaching a conclusion as to which of the companies' products will actually replace the Walkman, though we did have some feelings on that subject at the time.

Story

Oh, the dreaded popups. (From DB)

You can Spybot 'em, Adaware 'em and
even CanSpam them but what do you do when that sneaky
window sits there after you close your browser? Do you
click on the Yes or No or do you click on the "close"
button?

Face it, sometimes one of those popups is going to get by
and you need to know how to close it without clicking on
the stupid thing. There is an easy way and it costs
nothing.

Beginning with Windows NT, pressing the Ctrl, Alt and Del
keys that the same time does not cause your computer to
reboot. It does bring up the task manager (and even with
Windows 95/98 it may do that depending on how stable your
PC is).

Once the task manager is open, click on the processes tab
and look for "iexplore.exe". Close all instances of that
process and you'll see that nasty popup go away. Now
this only works for popups that are a browser window, not
things like flashups or things like that. Closing
iexplorer.exe is always pretty safe to do.

Another hint, if your 2000/XP machine is starting to act
crazy, open task manager and close the offending program,
the sooner the better. Just be a little careful when
closing things in task manager as you can accidentally
close a process Windows needs to operate.

My latest project, the re-make of Sacramento.com, seems promising. Google is not the only player who can "do" local search...

SureWest Directories and The Sacramento Bee Launch New Local Online Destination for Sacramento; Sacramento.com to Provide Listings and Information: "SureWest Directories and The Sacramento Bee Launch New Local Online Destination for Sacramento; Sacramento.com to Provide Listings and Information

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 2004--Integrated communications provider SureWest Communications (Nasdaq:SURW) and The Sacramento Bee, the second-largest newspaper in Northern California, today announced an agreement to make SureWest Directories the exclusive online yellow pages provider for Sacramento.com, a web site of The Sacramento Bee. This is the first partnership between a telephone company and a newspaper in the emerging 'local search' category.


'This type of integration between newspaper and directory content is a first,' said Greg Sterling, Program Director of The Kelsey Group's Digital Directories: Interactive Local Media advisory service. 'It's a bold move that should offer a very rich local search user experience.' "

And now, for all of you MAC fans... This is really worth a click!

http://members.cox.net/clyqz/mac.swf

A topic near and dear to my pocket book...Study: Online ad sales set record-breaking pace | CNET News.com

By Matt Hines
Staff Writer, CNET News.com


The Interactive Advertising Bureau said Monday that online ad sales reached almost $2.3 billion in the first quarter of 2004, the highest three-month total since the group began tracking the sector in 1996. "

I kept telling you guys this was going to happen, but no, you had to keep bossing them around.

Robots Protest: "Robots Protest"

filed under gadgets (from Slashdot.com)

WiFi Speed Spray: "Want Faster Data Transfer?
WiFi Speed Spray(tm) to the rescue!

This revolutionary product is guaranteed to enhance the transfer of computer data through the air. You'll be amazed!
Do you live in a polluted environment such as Los Angeles? If so, you've probably experienced the heartbreak of data transfer slow-down. WiFi Speed Spray? can overcome the effects of pollution, increase fidelity, and provide you with the fastest wireless data transfer possible. Approved by the FCC, and 802.11b compliant! Compatible with Windows and most versions of Linux. "

Wired News: Los Alamos Lab Loses More Data: "
Los Alamos Lab Loses More Data

By Noah Shachtman | Also by this reporter Page 1 of 1

10:26 AM May. 21, 2004 PT
The Los Alamos National Laboratory, the nation's most important nuclear weapons lab, lost another hard disk drive filled with classified information, once again throwing a spotlight on lab officials who have been trying to re-emerge from years of scandals and mismangement.
The latest episode came to light Thursday, after Los Alamos admitted that, since a Monday inventory check, its custodians hadn't been able to find a 'classified removable electronic media,' or CREM -- disks and drives inscribed with the country's secrets. "

This is a real bummer. We'll miss you Leo...

The Laporte Report: Last Call: "Yesterday was one of the saddest days of my life. We put Call for Help to bed Wednesday. You'll see the last episode on Friday, but for those of us who have been making the show for six years a huge and important chunk of our lives is over."

Chris Sampang's Today in Sacramento - a blogger's look at the River
City.

Scary Movie | Printer-friendly version: "Scary Movie
A Canadian documentary asserts that the modern-day corporation meets the criteria of a psychopath.

URL: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/82/cheatsheet.html



The Corporation is a documentary, but it's hard not to feel the rising terror of a horror flick while watching it. There are the stock, doomed good guys and a raft of sinister villains. Scariest of all is the premise that if left unchecked, the corporation, as the dominant institution of our day, will eventually be our undoing.

The Corporation , which has played to sold-out houses in (not surprisingly) Canada and opens in June in American theaters, is based on Joel Bakan's new book, The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power (Free Press, 2004), a title that isn't subtle about its intent. Like the book, the movie, by Bakan and Canadian filmmakers Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, draws on a checklist from a psychological diagnostic manual to argue that the corporation--recognized under U.S. law as a 'person'--meets the criteria of, you guessed it, a psychopath. Callous unconcern for the feelings of others? Check. Reckless disregard for others' safety? Yep. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors? Uh-huh."

Linksys, Real take digital tunes to the living room | CNET News.com: "Linksys, Real take digital tunes to the living room
Last modified: May 19, 2004, 4:16 PM PDT
By CNET News.com Staff


Wi-Fi equipment maker Linksys has teamed up with RealNetworks to offer customers the ability to shuttle music from a PC or other storage device to a home stereo.
The companies announced Wednesday that subscribers of Real's Rhapsody music subscription service can use an audio component, called Linksys Media Link for Music, to access their online music from a stereo. The component uses the 802.11b wireless networking standard. "

WiFi Vs. 3G - DB has his money on 3G! (Another prophetic rant from frequent contributor "DB")

Cometa throws in the towel. Cometa, a WiFi startup is
getting out of the business (and going out of business)
because they couldn't make the WiFi solution work from a
revenue standpoint. Unlike the very big players, they don't
have the money to take from other profitable divisions to
stay aloft. This is just the start.

Intel knew better than to get into WiFi directly (they make
WiFi chips) so they used Cometa as a sort of proxy. They
were smart. This isn't the end of WiFI by a long shot but
it shows the likely future. Paying for WiFi is a dead-end
prospect. It's great for attracting customers if the
service is free, sort of a loss leader to get you in the
door but paying for it? Not me.

I used to have a Starbucks WiFi account (T-Mobile Hotspot)
until I took a long hard look at what it cost versus what I
got. It costs right at a dollar a day so unless you are in
Starbucks every day that isn't cheap. Even if you are a
coffee junkie, that still isn't cheap for what you get;
checking your email or maybe reading the news. Miss a few
days and that price per use average goes through the roof.
Now maybe they will create a plan that lets you buy days at
the bulk rate like you buy some mobile phone services. They
do have a per minute/hour plan but then the costs go way up.

For that same price, I can get a T-Mobile data account and
get the Internet just about anywhere. It isn't as fast as
the WiFi service but then I use it for the same reasons I
was using the WiFi service at Starbucks; checking email,
reading the news etc. SacBee.com comes up quite nicely
using GPRS Mobile Internet service thank you.

WiFi in the home is Okay, but only if you lock it down to
secure your data otherwise you might as well leave the
house and leave the doors open, it about the same thing.

So what is the future of WiFI? Chances are your equipment
is already obsolete when compared to the new standards. Now
you are going to have to replace not only your WiFi router,
but every WiFi network card in all your PCs. Think about it
when comparing costs to wired stuff in the house. All of a
sudden it isn't so cheap.

WiFi will be around for a long time but already 3G mobile
Internet services are ripping through Europe. By this time
next year, I think WiFi will start to wane as people
realize that it isn't what they thought it was. I've heard
plenty of people wonder why their WiFi stuff doesn't work
on vacation. They actually thought it worked like mobile
phone service. Welcome 3G!

Out-of-control fans go with the throw... come on morons...don't be so embarrassing
Sacramento Bee, CA
Lost among the outcry over Sacramento Kings fans raining glow sticks and maracas on the home court at Arco is a sobering fact: Across the spectrum of college ... "

Google News - Sci/Tech: "Goodbye Mabell - or whatever you are calling yourself these days!...Cisco, IBM announce Net phone services
Cnet Asia
IBM and Cisco Systems on Tuesday announced plans to offer Internet telephony services and products, in a move designed to capture growing demand for the technology among businesses and large corporations.

Google News - Sci/Tech: "TechBrief: Plan fails for EU-wide patent law
International Herald Tribune

Done in by disputes over language and liability, European Union governments on Tuesday killed a proposal for an EU-wide patent that was a crucial part of a drive to cut costs for companies and make European businesses more competitive. "

Who you callin’ ho, ho?
RoboHo is here…

PS2 Price Drops.
As expected by many in the video game industry, Sony Computer Entertainment America is lowering the price of its standalone PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system as well as its PlayStation2 Combo Pack to $149 suggested retail price. This announcement follows on the heels of Microsoft lowering the price of its Xbox console last month.

Geek babes on display.
At this weeks E3 convention, tech boys had more than gadgets to gawk at…

Flying car a reality.
The M400 needs 35 clear feet to take off but thanks to its 770 hp engine can whiz to 365 mph - cruise control kicks in at 326 mph - and climb at 6,400 feet per minute. You may hear it before you see it: it emits a rather noisy 65 dba at 500 feet. Interestingly, with a fuel consumption of 20 miles to the gallon on the road, it's rather more economical than a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) and looks positively eco-friendly compared to a Hummer. Story...

Swarming robots – just cool

Gizmodo: Metal Rubber jacket….Nanotech at its best.

The trailer for Pixar's next film, The Incredibles...

is on the web. It's available from the official Incredibles site, the Apple trailers page, and Pixar's website. Lots of info on the official page as well! Enjoy!"

The Sky is falling! It’s the end of times… another scary post from DB!

I predicted this would happen. The shtudown of the Internet
is less than a year way. It might only last a few moments
but it's gonna happen:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20213-
2004May12.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Free PC Back-up - One that actually works! From DB
I have used this for almost a year - great. (JB)

Need a nice backup program but have Windows XP Home
Edition? Bet you thought you got cheated huh?

Well, Microsoft included a nice backup program and it won't
cost you anything. It's been included in Windows 2000 and
XP Pro from day one, but in XP Home it doesn't get
installed automatically.

Here is how you do it:

Insert the CD Rom and navigate to CD-ROM
Drive:\VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP (if windows tries to install
again, simply cancel the process)

Double-click the Ntbackup.msi file to start the wizard that
installs Backup

When the wizard is complete, click Finish. That's it. Now
you can find that program under Start/All
Programs/Accessories/System Tools

Just click on it and follow the wizard. It's fast and easy
to use and of course since you already paid for Windows, it
costs you nothing more.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Secure that WiFi Network son... From DB

To secure your wireless network you must now use two
different security methods in conjunction with each other.
One is called MAC filtering and the other is WEP (wireless
encryption protocol).

Now before you do anything else, go in your wireless router
(WR)or access point (AP) and change the default password.
Failing to do that one simple thing lets anyone inside.
Next write down the MAC address of your WiFi PC (laptop PDA
whatever). Usually it is on a stocker on the bottom of a
laptop or on the WiFi card. You can also get it by using
the command line:ipconfig/all. Do that for all computers
using wireless access in your house. Also write down the
username and password if you use DSL. If you don't have
it...STOP and get that first.

Inside the WR or AP enter all the MAC addresses you worte
down and set it to disallow any others. Be careful and read
the setting otherwise you mihgt set it incorrectly and not
be able to get in after that.

Next, go to the WEP setting and choose the 128 bit level.
The 64 Bit level is for ants okay? In the passphrase enter
12 letters and number. Now people, remember we are talking
letters and numbers (okay, numerals). If you can't use it
in a word or write it or a check don't use it. The WR or AP
will then generate a series of numbers that look like
politcal polling data, in other words meaningless. WRITE IT
DOWN! Apply and save these settings and your WR or AP will
reboot.

Last step, enter the setup for your WiFI laptop card or PDA
and make sure you enter the WEP code there too. You don't
have to worry about the MAC as the WR/AP will scan it
automatically.

That should be it. After that you can use your wireless
stuff knowing that most mental midgets can't hack your
stuff. While it is still possible, you surely notice the
car parked in front of your house for hours on end. Look
inside. If you see 3 dozen empty pepsi cans and empty
snickers bars wrappers, that is the one.

Now, it is possible to mess this up so bad that you can use
your wireless stuff at all. Don't worry. The reset button
on your WR/AP if held in more than a few seconds should put
everything back to factory specs and you can try again.

Please be aware that after doing this, those friendly
neighbors might not be so friendly anymore. After all, they
were using your bandwidth for free. If you want to have
some fun, do all this around 8pm when someone using your
stuff will be in the middle of checking their email. You'll
probably notice the scrambling around, the yelling and of
course, the sneak peek out of the window just to see if the
Black Helicopter is hovering outside. Good luck.

Please....Go HERE! FUNNY!

The link below, I posted last night after giggling myself silly. Some of you may "get" the comedy in these randomly produced phrases and some may not. Below, are some of my favorites produced last night...

"Is this a boy which I see before me, the road-map toward my Pac-Man arcade machine? Come, let me write a song about thee".

"I wish Hong Kong Phooey wouldn't carve little figurines of me"!

"Oh, how I wish I was butterscotch..."

"Candles and bugs - I wish they'd ponder me".

"I am a rhythmical rapscallion". (This one is so true...)

"I'm a level 5 Little boy, in motor boat-world! I've got a magic apple pie and everything"! (This one reminds me of my good friend, Mike T. He is the protector of bears.)

"How dare you attract my rotating hammer"!

"I wish you wouldn't smile at those bowls".

"Your mother was a calendar and your father smelled of shrubs".

"Why isn't my merry-go-round vibrating"?

"Ooh, I could taint a clock"!

"I wish Godzilla wouldn't attach electrodes to me".

Make some yourself (HERE) and share the good ones with me. Then, we can all make t-shirts and bumper stickers and become wealth beyond all imagining!

Love this

Eyeball Candy

Blog Monday, May 10, 2004

Folks - This was sent by a good friend of mine (I'll call him "DB") who, is like crazy smart about networking. If you use public Wi-Fi, you MUST read this...

"Jim, (There are) hack jobs going on all over the place with WiFi; people are
so clueless about it. I recently scanned (looking into other peeps computers!) a rogue access point at a local Starbucks. Pity the poor souls who connected to it.

Take a pocket Access Point and power it up at a hotspot and collect MAC addresses. From there everything gets real easy. You'd be surprised at how much of this is going on.
It takes about a minute go get everything in the MyDocs folder from another laptop. It's the big secret of WiFi that no one really wants to talk about. Go to any block and
scan. Same with most business locations. Everything is open. (When) the dirty little secret gets out, watch the panics. I won't use WiFi unless it runs through a VPN.

On Wi-Fi and Cable Connections

WiFI media connections make sharing cable TV super easy. 2.4 stuff already exists for some time but now the standard 802.11 standards make cable hookups for TV fast. No more paying Comcast extra money for the
kids (rooms).

Anti-virus software = The "best" is FREE.

The world's best anti-virus is AVG and it is free. It
finds everything and is magnitude of orders better than
MacAfee or Norton. It is simply the best and coupled with
SpyBot keeps your machine clean. (Get both at download.com)

Next version of Windows needs a new PC?

Don't buy a new PC if you want to run the next version
of Windows. It won't work. Wait another year if possible.

Don't leave us hanging on this DB, more please.


Think that 12-year-old misdemeanor conviction for peeing in the professorÂ?s car with your frat boys is well hidden from employers eyes? Think again.

When Marie, a computer programmer in the Los Angeles area, pleaded "no contest" to a misdemeanor shoplifting charge more than a year ago, she did so only because a judge assured her the case would be dismissed after 12 months' probation. (More from Wired)


This is so cool.your TV as a living art canvas.

GermanyÂ?s Light:Tools has created a thin film you place on top of your TV screen that reduces the image to a grid of large pixels thus creating 100% dynamic TV art, all the time... ThereÂ?s also a larger version for big screens called imedia_pro.


There's a flasher in my tent!

This is so smart. Ever tried to find your tent in the middle of the night? Next time just phone home and light it up! Here.


This is so tragic and creepy...

Murder predicted in text message

A mother wrote a text message predicting her own murder on the day she was stabbed to death by her former husband, a court heard yesterday. Story.


Inc. magazine: Sex and the Strip Mall

An entrepreneur bets that porn is ready to go mass retail. The shopping center on Chapel Hill Boulevard in Durham, N.C., is like many you would find across the country. SUVs troll the parking lot. There's a tanning salon and a barber shop and, nearby, a Macaroni Grill and a Toys "R" Us. And today there's a special appearance by porn star Nina Hartley. Story.

I'm so bummed...Van Helsing sucks? Is it true? Say it aint so...

"Van Helsing: Tastes Like Battlefield Earth

We'd (The Defamer) run a bad review round-up, but MovieJuice Diary's Mark Ramsey seems to sum up what we've been hearing about Van Helsing:

Only in Hollywood can a piece of crap (and I mean Battlefield Earth-style crap) like Universal's new Van Helsing make what will undoubtably [sic] be a zillion dollars on opening weekend by effectively bamboozling hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting (or simply uninterested) fans. Only in the movie theater are so many people willing to pay for what in a supermarket would be a food that tastes like sh--".

A day to celebrate mothers.

Men, really think about this for a moment. Hallmark and other commercial interests have turned this day into something that can cause us to miss what this should be about. They've fogged the window we look through causing us to busy ourselves with flowers, cars, jewelry, candy and brunch.

Instead of the obligatory "must dos," for just a moment, think about your stinking socks.

Think about how they become clean again.

Think about your healthy kids, their clean clothes, and their full tummies.

Think about the mother of your children as a roll model. If she is what you hope your kids will become, you are blessed and you should bow down and praise this woman daily. (Not just today)

Today let all petty grievance go. Stop being little boy selfish and insecure and celebrate her.

Put the seat down
Rinse your plate and actually put it in the dishwasher
Open a door for her
Pull out her chair
Stroke her hair and tell her that she is beautiful
Cuddle her with out it having to lead to something else (but if it does, slow down fast boy, make it last ...)
Ask her how her life is going. Really listen.

Do all of this quietly and don't expect or need to be praised for any of it. Just focus on her.

If she is 1/2 the woman my wife is, to arrange a freaken parade, supersonic fighter jet fly over and pool party at Oprah's house would not be enough.

Take time to hold her hand, hug her and tell her thank you.

Please wave your MasterCard now...Swiping not needed.

MasterCard introduced a RFID MasterCard called PayPass in Orlando Florida. MasterCard claims that the card has to be within an inch of the reader to be read -- Hey criminals...get your portable readers now...Simply bump into your mark.

This is SO Geeky...I love this.

Pizza Party is a free, text based CLI for ordering Domino's pizza via Quikorder, or for throwing pizza parties. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License, runs under most *nix shells, and can order pizza with only a few keystrokes.


Understand Spyware... What the hell is it anyway?

Wired has an article about the growing problem of computer users having to call tech support to get help removing all of the spyware on their computers. 'The fast-growing phenomenon is already responsible for more than 12 percent of all technical support calls in Dell's consumer hardware division, the biggest category of complaints this year, company representatives said.


Destroy Spyware

Stop spyware before it infects your system. I HATE spyware. I LOVE Spybot Search and Destroy. It's free. Get it NOW. I command thee.


Location is DEAD. You are now the center of your own, mobile universe. Screw the office cubicle. Work from home. Be happy.

From Slashdot..."A story that I found over on MobileBeta that talks about how now technology such as broadband, and WiFi are becoming more and more common place. People can (and I believe may one day be required) to work at home. Here's a small clip from the story: 'According to a recent AT&T survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), 80% of companies worldwide expect to have employees who telework by 2005, up from 54% in 2003. The International Telework Association & Council (ITAC) recently reported the number of home-based teleworkers in the US grew 63.2% between 1999 and 2003.'"


This really disappoints this farmer... I REALLY loved TechTV. Adios geeky amigos. You'll be missed!

Looks like it's curtains for TechTV staff. Corporate career killers, Comcast, has let the entire (SF Bay area) staff go. 'Per the WARN Act (governing plant closings) all the employees of TechTV have been given 60 days notice. The San Francisco operation will be shuttered by July. 100 of the existing jobs will be posted for those willing to relocate to LA.' No word on what will happen to all the shows or the channel.


Rape, Kill, Shoot and Slash - Absolutely FREE!

Free 'Grand Theft Auto'
Get classic PC version of this incredibly evil and youth corrupting game.

Download 'Grand Theft Auto' now


Get a tattoo on your EYEBALL! Soooo stupid...

Cosmetic Extraocular Implant

Background
Earrings, make-up and more recently tattoos and piercings are accepted forms of body cosmetics. Surprisingly, no jewelry is available for the organ that is most important in social interactions, the eye. Until NOW.


People... Do these things NOW...Top 10 Ways to Secure Your PC


The Farmer

Super MP3 Will Feature User Tracking - Slashdot

Downloads may soon contain more than just ripped off music tracks. "Light weight digital rights" could lead to heavyweight fines.

Hey fellow cheap freaks...don't pass this up! - Slashdot

Sites like the ones listed here have opened mine eyes. Some of these deals are almost to good to be true.

Flexiglow Illuminated Keyboard - slashdot

Inventors are just cool. Ever wrested with a desktop light to see that keyboard? Not anymore. Bring the glow porno boy...

A Big Wheel for Big Spenders - popsci.com

Innovative mono wheel design features counter-weight and no front wheels. Very cool. I want this, bet you will too.

Booby-track Trackball. This one will surely go over big in the office. This is just stupid. - Gizmodo


Would you like cell service with that banana Slurpe my friend? 7-11 brands own mobile service? odd.

Beer can cools contents on the fly. ? Thisislondon.com

This is just plain smart. Pop a cool one in the middle of anywhere...

MP3 togo. ? NY Times (requires free registration)
Clear Channel Entertainment finds one more way to squeeze every last dime out of star-worshipping concert kids.

Leftover bandwidth sounds good to local broadcasters. ? NY Times (requires free registration)
Could be cable company wake-up call.