The Perfect Storm- June 29, 2008 (picture unrelated) Over the past week or two I have gone through an interesting confluence of issues, all centered around communications. 1. My Comcast Triple Play is about to hit the one-year mark, which means that my rates are about to go way the hell up. 2. My company is deploying Cisco IP phones to all telecommuters. These phones require a VPN initiated at the router, so each of us was issued a Cisco 851 or the wireless equivalent. 3. Verizon is trying for a third time to finish pulling...http://www.pedrovera.com/2008/06/perfect-storm.html Verizon doesn't want my hard-earned money- June 28, 2008 (picture related) Like Dolores Claiborne used to say: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on you." I guess since this is fool me thrice, it's the part when Dolores pushed her husband down the dry well. They did it again: one more time they scheduled to come here and finally pull down the fiber into mine and the three condo units above. Once again, they didn't show up. This time I let myself believe they would do it, so I ordered FIOS again. My order was put on hold by the...http://www.pedrovera.com/2008/06/verizon-doesn-want-my-hard-earned-money.html Happiness is a Warm Gun- June 27, 2008 Yes it is. Well, it's done. The SCOTUS has gunned down DC's ban on gun ownership under constitutional grounds. Bang! This is the first major SCOTUS ruling on the Second Amendment. The argument DC claimed that the Second Amendment was meant to maintain militias. Everyone else claimed that there was no such thing, that it applies to everyone. The pro gun lobby is ecstatic. The anti-gun lobby is shitting a brick. The common DC folks are wondering when the first gun stores are opening, and what...http://www.pedrovera.com/2008/06/happiness-is-warm-gun.html Ferrari Building a Smaller, Lighter, Quicker Enzo Autopia from Wired.com- June 26, 2008 The go-fast gurus at Ferrari are working on a successor to the jaw-dropping Enzo that could be the lightest, quickest two-seater ever to roll out of Maranello. We told you months ago the Scuderia's next supercar would be based on the Millechili concept that embraces the "less is more" ethos. Ferrari sees lighter cars as the best way to reach its goal of increasing fuel economy 40 percent and reducing emissions 25 percent without compromising its reputation for performance. The Millechili.http://www.pedrovera.com/2008/06/ferrari-building-smaller-lighter.html Original iPhone warranties about to expire- June 26, 2008 TUAW was kind enough to remind suckers (the ones that waited in line for a day or long for the iPhone's first sale) that their warranties are about to expire: Do you hear that ticking noise It's your iPhone's warranty preparing to go "boom."From Original iPhone warranties about to expire - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) Applecare is nothing more than a warranty extension, but it is a necessary evil. Apple is very flexible about selling these to you, so as the article mentions, you have..http://www.pedrovera.com/2008/06/original-iphone-warranties-about-to.html Caffeinated moms drink up to keep up - CNN.com- June 24, 2008 Americans are consuming caffeinated beverages as never before. In fact, energy drink sales skyrocketed in 2007. The sale of Rockstar, which contains up to 360 mg of caffeine per can, compared with 80 to 150 mg per serving for coffee, rose 38.9 percent in 2007, according to Beverage Digest. Redbull sales rose 19 percent. All this caffeine consumption has given rise to growing numbers of "caffeinated moms." A study by an independent, nonprofit research group, The National Sleep Foundation,.http://www.pedrovera.com/2008/06/caffeinated-moms-drink-up-to-keep-up.html Fake Jerry Yang- June 24, 2008 Daniel Lyons, the writer behind Fake Steve Jobs, is usually funny as hell. Now he is bringing it up to 11 by having Fake Jerry Yang as a guest blogger. If you thought Fake Steve was funny, this is even better. It is not better because it is funnier, but because it is so right on the money that it makes you wonder just how many people in Yahoo are leaking information to Lyons. If you got burned by the first dot com bubble, then this is the kind of writing that will split your seams. It is also a.http://www.pedrovera.com/2008/06/fake-jerry-yang.html The Faraday Cage Revised- June 24, 2008 Back in March I wrote an article on the challenges of maintaining a reliable wireless network when your building seems to follow the properties of a Faraday Cage. The basic problem was really crappy wireless performance at short ranges indoors. The problem was compounded by having two AppleTVs in the non-Wireless N network, both in streaming mode. The fix was to run Cat5e cables so everything in the house (except the two iPhones) would run on 100baseT. Only the iMac and the Mac Book Pro had...http://www.pedrovera.com/2008/06/faraday-cage-revised.html Bad movie weekend roundup- June 23, 2008 This weekend was pretty active, work projects hit the eye of the hurricane, and I had a queue of horror movies to watch: The Omen Pentalogy: The Omen: One of my favorite horror movies of all time. It doesn't belong to a bad movie weekend lineup, I only watched it to keep the story line in the proper perspective. The Omen Remake : It was much better than what I had hoped for. When I saw this movie originally the little kid that plays Damien scared the living shit out of me. He looks even meaner..http://www.pedrovera.com/2008/06/bad-movie-weekend-roundup.html Dick Cheney is scowling at you- June 22, 2008http://www.pedrovera.com/2008/06/dick-cheney-is-scowling-at-you.html |