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Please note: Older issues may contain information that is now out of date. How To Subscribe
and Unsubscribe is at the end of this note. Mailing List Trouble? See http://www.langa.com/help.txt Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win $10,000 !) An easier-to
read formatted HTML version of this newsletter is available on line at The LangaList 2000-10-02 A Free Email
Newsletter from Fred
Langa --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) ---
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Surely you've heard of the CueCat by
now: It's a free, pen-style bar-code scanner being given away by a company
called Digital Convergence in what they're calling the largest, fastest hardware
rollout in computer history: They plan to distribute 50 million of the devices
by the end of next year. Here in the US, it's being promoted
in newspapers, magazines, and on television; it's also being handed out in the
national chain of Radio Shack stores. You almost can't avoid it. The primary benefit of the CueCat is
that you can scan in specially-formatted bar-code information printed in ads;
the bar-code is usually just a URL. The CueCat software turns the scanned code
into a standard URL and feeds it to your browser, which then takes you to the
page. It seems a little silly to me to
have to install extra hardware and software (with all the concomitant potential
for instability therein) primarily to avoid typing a URL: CueCat seems a product
aimed at raw newbies who are terrified of typing "http:" or who don't
know that most browsers don't even need the "http://www." (For
example, in most browsers, langa.com
and http://www.langa.com get
you to the same page.) And there are major privacy
concerns: To use a CueCat, you have to register it, which involves providing
personal information (name, email, zip code, gender, age...) to Digital
Convergence. Plus, each CueCat has a unique serial number software-embedded
inside it. This gives the company everything it needs to track you: Because it
knows who you are and which CueCat you own, the company can, if it chooses,
track every ad you ever scan. By using a CueCat to go to a web site instead of
simply typing the URL, Digital Convergence now has a way to "look over your
shoulder" as you shop. Worse, their database was set up
poorly, and that treasure-trove of online personal information almost
immediately came under attack by bad hackers---"crackers"--- who
successfully stole at least some of the personal information there. This is not
confidence-inspiring. Privacy groups hate the CueCat: The
Privacy Foundation, for example, has issued a lengthy and scathing warning about
the CueCat. See http://www.privacyfoundation.org/advisories/advCueCat.html. Plus, the darn thing just doesn't
work very well. Its bar codes are nonstandard, and lack a "start" bar
on the left: This leads to frequent scan failures in standard left-to-right
scans. (Oddly, the CueCat codes do have a proper "Stop" code on the
right, so reverse, right-to-left scans usually work. Who designed *that*
format?) And all this is mainly just to avoid
having to type some URLs. Sheesh. My advice: The CueCat's a dog. I
don't have one on any of my PCs, and I have no plans to add one. I recommend you
avoid it, too. Click to
email this item to a friend Thwack! That's the sound of me
slapping my forehead: An item in Scot Finnie's excellent
"WinInsider" ( http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/insider/
) reminded me of a simple item I'd been meaning to add to the CleanUp batch
files: It's SCANREG /OPT: That command, from DOS, compacts your registry by
weeding out empty or meaningless entries. CleanAll.Bat now checks to see if
Scanreg.Exe is in the proper location, and then--- if it is--- automatically
runs it in /OPT mode. So, CleanAll now deletes all TEMP, TMP and Temporary
Internet Files, compacts and re-synchronizes your Cookies databases AND now
compacts your Registry! You can grab the new copy of
CleanAll at http://www.langa.com/cleanall_bat.htm
--- and please remember to click on a sponsor's link when you're there to help
defray my bandwidth costs. Thanks! Click to
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Reader Craig Pease has a suggestion
to go along with those in the last issue regarding the Internet Fraud Complaint
Center and the Better Business Bureau Online. (See http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-09-28.htm#5
) Recently I mailed a check
to a retailer in Pennsylvania for an item and 3 days later received an automated
message saying they were going out of business. I was promised the return of my
money....(which by the way they cashed prior to "going out of
business"). After 15 E-mails and three hand written letters, I received
nothing but the run-around. I filed a complaint with the FBI INTERNET FRAUD
ORGANIZATION, the BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU, the FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, and THE
ATTORNEY GENERAL'S CONSUMER FRAUD DIVISION OF PA. It was the Attorney
General's office that finally got results, and my money returned. I believe this
is because they work on more of a local level, than a federal one. If you live in the US, you can find
your local State Attorney general at http://www.excite.com/business/law/lawyers_and_advice/attorneys_general/
or by doing a general web search for "attorney general" and the name
of your state. Outside of the US, you'll need to
substitute your local equivalent governmental office; almost all countries have
some sort of official department or ministry that serves a similar function. Thanks, Craig! Click to
email this item to a friend It was serendipity: Researchers were
trying to pin down the source of "microcontamination" in computer chip
production lines, and traced it to an extremely hardy bacterium that could
actually build itself a protective casing out of the dissolved semiconductor
materials present in otherwise-pure chip wash water. The semiconductor shell
made the bacteria resistant to normal disinfecting and cleansing techniques.
But the researchers soon realized
the encased bacteria were actually a kind of biological semiconductor that could
be employed to make living transistors!
It sounds like science-fiction, but
it's real: The immediate application of these bio-transistors will probably be
in sensors. Like canaries in coal mines, the living transistors would switch
"off" when exposed to a biohazardous material, triggering an
electronic alarm.
Of course, that's just the first
step, and there's no telling where the technology of living, breathing,
(reproducing?) circuitry may lead. You'll find more info on this and
other far-out---but real!--- advances along the road to "The Ultimate
PC," in my current "Monitor" column at Byte.Com: http://www.byte.com/column/BYT20000920S0001
. Check it out! Click to
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Currently on the WinMag site, the
Explorer column discusses "disk imaging" and related technologies that
can not only provide excellent backups of your data, but that also can restore
your entire system--- all software, all settings, all modifications--- in
minutes. (See http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/2000/20.htm
) Reader Tom Swartout found a freeware
alternative to one part of the approach I recommend, which involved using
Powerquest's $60 PartitionMagic: Hi Fred: I
just came across this free partition resizer, Partition Resizer 1.3.3, at http://members.nbci.com/Zeleps/
. Thanks, Tom. There are other free
resizers out there too, and they might be worth a look IF you have a full backup
of your data and IF there's just no way you can afford a commercial solution.
Although I'm normally a big fan of "free" software, any utility that
plays with your disk partitioning is working at a very, very low level: If
something goes wrong, there may be no way to recover: The worst-case scenario is
total loss of the contents of your hard drive. It's one thing to try a free browser
or a free word processor or some such, where the worst likely outcome is
inconvenience. But I'm reluctant to risk all the contents of my hard drive with
freeware--- in fact, the whole "bullet-proofing" article is about
INcreasing your data safety, not DEcreasing it. So, if you had a known-good backup
of all your data, and you want to avoid the cost of the commercial
partition-movers/resizers, then by all means give Partition Resizer a try. But
if you don't already have a backup, or if the time you'd spend recovering from a
disk wipeout is worth more than $60 to do, then I suggest you stick with the
commercial solutions, like PartitionMagic. Click to
email this item to a friend I'll announce the three(!) winners
of September's drawing very soon, but meanwhile, it's a new month and right now
your chances are the best they'll ever be! To have a shot at winning a copy of
"Poor Richard's E-Mail Publishing: Creating Newsletters, Bulletins,
Discussion Groups and Other Powerful Communications Tools" (a $30 value)
just use the following link to recommend the LangaList to a friend. Your friend
just may find a new source of useful information; I just may gain a new
subscriber; and you just may win a book! (Full details also available via this
link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 The more times you make a
recommendation, the greater your chances are of winning! Or, if you'd like to try to win
$10,000(really!), try this link (full details also available here): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#1 Either way, thank you, and good
luck! Click to
email this item to a friend We recently talked about some
frequently-overlooked, piggish files that can consume far more than their fair
share of your hard drive. (See http://langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-09-28.htm#2
) Reader Mark Thimell found another: Fred: Thanks for the
regular doses of quality assistance! After reading Mr. Engle's
log-file discovery, I did a quick check of my hard drive for Oinkage and found
over 27 MB of log files from tracking user traffic of Web sites I have built.
Wow, and this is from only ONE site! Use the techniques linked above, or
the fuller step-by-step discussed at http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/2000/19.htm,
to see just how much oinkage you have on your system--- and how much space you
can recover! Click to
email this item to a friend Do you have a home page or website?
(It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm,
and maybe you can join the hundreds and hundreds of LangaList readers who have
"Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The Code" and
are wondering if your site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web site, please
see http://www.langa.com/link.txt
) Speaking of which: Here's another
eclectic sample of reader sites--- some professional, some very personal: Megs'
Space "Database
Solutions for Successful Businesses" Click to email this
item to a friend --- ( It
costs less than you think to advertise! ) --- The
LangaList grew by 10,000 new subscribers just last month alone! AOL users
click <a href="http://www.langa.com/rate_card.html">here</a> Last week, I told you about a
kid-safe browser that uses built in "nannyware" to help keep children
out of the seedier corners of the web. ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-09-28.htm#9
)Most nannyware parses the language of web pages and the code and links
underlying the pages; it checks the words against a list of offensive terms, and
blocks pages or links (including links to images) that contain those words. But
this particular browser also claimed it can interpret the actual contents of
images, too--- a claim about which I was skeptical. From the UK, reader David Chadderton
wrote: I heard on the news on the
radio a couple of weeks ago that a company here in the UK had developed a system
for analysing images downloaded or e-mailed by people in offices to check for
pornography. Apparently it looks at the proportion of skin tones used in the
picture. That sounds plausible--- but rather
silly. An innocuous close up of a face (mostly skin) might be flagged as
offensive; a photo of something as benign as bathers on the beach, or even a
sliced peach(!) might be flagged obscene. I think this kind of technology will
generate a boatload of false positives--- far too many to be worthwhile. Similarly, some text-parsing
nannyware in use today also generates false positives: Something called
"MIMEsweeper," which I gather is a plug-in for Lotus Notes, prevented
last week's newsletter from reaching the mailboxes of many readers: It seems
that in my discussion of nannyware--- which is p*rn-blocking software--- I used
the work "p*rn." (Substitute an "o" for the "*".)
MIMEsweeper is so stupid that even the mention of the word p*rn in an anti-p*rn
context is still regarded as p*rn. Duh! On the plus side: Fred: Here is a website
that offers filtered e-mail for kids: http://www.twotoads.com
It is a good stand alone and would be a great combination with the
"heartsoft" browser. I enjoy your listmail!--- ahshealy Fred, I have been looking
at Nannyware & Filtered ISP's for a couple years and was interested in your
9/28/00 Langalist e-mail on the subject. As you know, the problem with Nannyware
is keeping it updated, and preventing access around the program. Filtered ISPs
are often slow, and are frequently sponsored by a moral group which may not have
the same ideologies as the User. For the last six months, I have had great
results with http://SafeAccess.com
. This ISP does not filter every page, and instead uses a router. Once a page
has passed the filter, such as CNN.com, the router no longer sends it to through
the filter software and instead send it directly to the User. This speeds up the
process considerably. I have had no downtime problems with Safe Access and the
techsupport has worked fine.--- Vic Gryn Thanks to all who wrote in! Click to
email this item to a friend The recent items on regional humor
prompted Ed Imbier and Joe
Usseglio, from "upcountry near Burlington, Vt" to send along these
Vermont computer terms: Assembly language - mostly
spoken by the Town Moderator. Compiler - the kid who
rakes your leaves. Keyboard - where you hang
the house key, the truck key, the key to the car you junked eight years ago, and
the churchkey. Linker - the guy who drives
the tow truck. Linux - the big cat that
keeps chasing your dog up a tree. Motherboard - the piece of
wood where you got that mother splinter. Parallel port - the leak on
the other side of the boat. Reboot - another try at
getting the damn dog off the new carpet. Serial card - has a picture
of a decathlon winner on it. Trackball - one of them
five-state lottery games. Virtual reality - the lake
after twelve beers and no fish. Click to
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Abbreviated version: The tips and other information given in the newsletter are
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