Category: news

Ok, so I broke down and got a copy of CoD4, I wasn't sure about it given the BF franchise and how they did modern warfare. Well so far I've been really impressed with the game, it's a modern setting but the mechanics and feel of the game are very similar to the CoD we've all played before, in a good way. So far I've only had time for a couple of the single player missions but I plan to jump into the multiplayer laster this week. The graphics are amazing and I'm sure they'd look even better with a high end vid card. I think I've finally found a modern era shooter I enjoy.

I've seen this spring up on several different internet sites like Digg and Reddit. They've been listed and shouted down by droves of discontents, they're the "Big Ten", the "Media Mafia", the 10 leading news outlets that control 95% of "big media". You're familiar with most of them, I'm sure. They control the vast majority of print media, movie, music and television. You know, "the media".

This list got me thinking. Ten isn't all that bad of a number of competitors in a US marketplace. I can't list 10 leading PC manufacturers, 10 leading US auto manufacturers, 10 US telecom companies or even 10 leading gunmakers. Ten's not that bad of a number.

Sure there should be more diversity in the drive-by journalism outlets, but what about all of the other markets in the US. Why isn't anyone speaking out against the few companies that control the vast majority of the secret recipes behind the junk food we shovel into our faces. Why aren't the few main telecom companies controlling long distance and the internet at fault? Are just 10 really all that bad - how many competitors should there be?

Kiva.org is a website that allows lenders to connect with those seeking loans to get their fledgling businesses up and running in developing countries. The mission of Kiva is to empower the motivated entrepreneurs in foreign countries as well as helping fellow man. It's mostly humanitarian with a business focus.

Lenders, like you and me, can donate as little as $25 to Kiva to be loaned out to those seeking funds to help grow their businesses. Kiva has field agents overseas to ensure the parties involved are honestly in need of the money, are good for the money and have some for of collateral. The business end is handled by Kiva agents and they seem to be doing their homework when it comes to loaning money - 100% of the money loaned out through Kiva has been repaid with no one defaulting on their loan.

The people seeking the loans benefit from Kiva's generosity by having a 0% interest loan. A huge blessing when you consider local loan sharks might charge as much as 300%! So, for me to part with $25 for a few months is no hard task - especially when I'm almost guaranteed to get the money back into my PayPal account, at which point I can turn around and re-loan the money to another person or wire the money back into my bank account.

If you're interested, check out Kiva.org for more info. There's also this informational video done by PBS' Frontline showing how Kiva works both at home and abroad. Others are talking about Kiva as well, which are all linked from Kiva's press page.

Well, it's official (in my eyes at least) Comcast sucks. Time Warner Houston recently sold their internet operations (aka RoadRunner) to Comcast. In doing so they migrated user email accounts to a @comcast.net address, rather than the long @houston.rr.com. Cool, it's shorter, easier for newbs to remember, etc.

I migrated my family (me, jenn, parents) over to Comcast a few weeks ago, problem is, there's no easy web interface to manager user accounts. There very well could be some awesome, ground breaking webapp to do just this, but Comcast doesn't make it easy to find - not like RoadRunner used to. So now, everyone's converted over, but I can't set/change my parents' email passwd so they're more or less locked out of their email until they (or I) call Comcast. Ok, fine. I can call sometime, no problem. For me it's no problem migrating over. I just changed the MX redirect on my neodux.com email address and the mail is routed appropriately - for a while. You see, Comcast has this thing called a blacklist. Lots of people are unhappy with Comcast's blacklist. If your mail server isn't AOL, MSN or some other commercial service, chances are you'll get blacklisted. Guess what happened to mail from neodux.com?

I called Comcast and was on the phone with 2 different technicians for about 45 minutes (not including hold time) trying to A) convey to them the problem and B) how it's their problem and not my "internet security settings". I even had one technician tell me repeatedly and in a condescending tone that there is absolutely no blacklist and that my emails are bouncing due to my mail server. (No way buddy, not when the header tells me your mail server is rejecting it!)

Long story short: Neodux email is now hosted on Dreamhost who, despite my problems with them in the past, is 110,000% better at not screwing up stuff for no reason. Thanks Dreamhost!

I just received my newest toy. I got a solar and dynamo powered radio that I bought online. It is the Kaito KA007. It receives AM/FM/TV/SW/VHF, which allows me to receive Air traffic, 2m FM ham radio, National Weather Service and general VHF usage traffic (wrecker, sheriff, highway patrol, etc). Here's a look at the back of the radio.

Right out of the box I gave it about 5 or 6 turns on the hand crank and was able to tune in local FM stations and an AM station while in the basement of the student center. KC9AIC and I then took it outside in the sun to check out the solar capabilities which is when I tested out the world band reception. I was able to hear World Harvest Radio loud and clear under solar power. However, I did notice a bit of drifting as I tuned in world band signals. I've also noticed very little selectivity in FM broadcast reception.

A few things I wish the radio had would be a digital display of the frequency, I wish the AC adapter was built-in so I wouldn't have to worry about keeping up another wall wart (although with solar capabilities, it's not that big of a deal), I also wish there was an external antenna input port for hooking in a better antenna. None of these are really vital, but they'd be nice. These features are found on newer models, but they don't offer wide VHF reception, only weather. So it's all a big tradeoff, which is why I opted for this model.