Password Security

Given the massive security breach of the Gawker network of websites this weekend, it is a good opportunity to review password security. Users tend to accrue many accounts across a variety of services and sites as they use the internet. You might have one username and password for your web-based e-mail (HotMail, Yahoo, GMail, etc.) and another for your online shopping (Amazon, eBay, Red Envelope, etc.). You could also have accounts for your online banking and credit accounts. Add to those the social services you use (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, FourSquare, etc.) and you can have more accounts than you know what to do with. The easy thing to do is to give up trying to remember different usernames and passwords across all of these sites and use the same one every time. This is very, very dangerous behavior, and I encourage everyone to move towards better online account security.

First, a brief discussion of why this behavior is dangerous. Let's say your name is Janet Weiss and your e-mail address is janetweiss@hotmail.com. For all of the sites you visit you use the username: janetweiss@hotmail.com. On every site you use the same password: 10041946 (your birthday). You use this same account information on every site you use on the internet: everything from your bank's website to the local message board for movie enthusiasts. Let's say that the folks running that message board aren't entirely on the up-and-up, and rather than hashing your password like they are supposed to, they store it in clear text in their database of users. One of the folks with access to this database, let's call him Floyd, can't resist the temptation and prints off a list of usernames and passwords, including yours. Floyd spots your username is your e-mail address, and tries logging into your account with the same password you used on the message board. Success, Floyd is now into your mailbox! Here, Floyd does a quick search to see what other accounts you might have. He turns up old mail that tells him all about the places you do your banking, shopping, and other online activities. He tries that same username and password at your bank and he's in! He quickly sets up a few major transfers between your bank account and anonymous accounts he has set up for himself. He regularly checks your mail and deletes any notifications you get about the transfer. A few days later, once the transfer is complete, Floyd is walking around with a pocketful of your savings.

Ouch! So what can you do to protect yourself from this sort of thing? The obvious answer is to not use the same password on all of your accounts. This can seem like a daunting task, especially if you enjoy using many services on the web. How are you supposed to remember all of those usernames and passwords?

As a first step, I recommend picking two or three passwords that you can remember. Make one a really difficult password, like a jumble of numbers, letters, and symbols that has no meaning to you. This is your 'high security' password. Only use this password on sites that you absolutely trust, and that protect your most important information, such as your bank. Be sure that if you are using this password that the site you are entering it on is using an SSL Certification (an easy way to check is to verify the web address starts with https:// not http://). Your browser might also put a lock symbol next to the URL. Your other password(s) is your insecure password. Use this on sites that you don't necessarily trust, but need an account to access. Using this password is a reminder that anything you enter on the site is probably insecure, so act accordingly. Also, assume that every place you use this password, someone else is going to figure it out and get access to the account. Never, under any circumstance, enter your critical account information (such as bank account or credit card number) on a site that does not use a security certificate (https).

Better, but still not a great feeling, right? If someone manages to figure out that 'high security' password, they will still have access to *all* of your sensitive accounts. The next step is to use different passwords on every service you use. That can be really intimidating if you use a lot of services. Fortunately, there are some tools available to help you. First, find a password manager you like, and start using it. I use KeePass, and I highly recommend it. KeePass allows you to save a username and password for all of the different sites and services you use. The information is stored in a secure, encrypted file. You can only open this file by entering a password. Pick a really strong password for this file, as it protects all of your other account information. KeePass will also generate strong passwords for you. Definitely take advantage of this feature. Once you start using KeePass (or any other password manager) there really isn't any reason to remember your individual site passwords. Just pull up the password manager and copy the password for the service you want to use to the clipboard, then paste it on the login screen.

This works great from one computer, but what do you do when you move between several computers in a day? One solution is to store the encrypted password file on a site that you can access from anywhere. I recommend Dropbox. You can install Dropbox on as many computers (and your smartphones as well) as you like and get 2GB of storage for free. Dropbox will synchronize the files you store with it across all of these machines. That way, when you add a new password to your list at work, you still have access to it when you get home. KeePass and DropBox both have apps for Android and iPhone as well, so you can load it on your smartphone and carry your passwords with you anywhere. If you don't have a smartphone, consider purchasing a cheap USB memory stick and putting it on your keychain. You can install KeePass to the memory stick and save your password file there, allowing you to carry it with you wherever you go. That way, if you stop in an internet cafe or library, you can still have access to all of your passwords.

Online security can be confusing, and it is easy to make yourself vulnerable to attack. Taking the step of using a password manager and different passwords on every site you use is a big step towards limiting your risk when using the web.

YAGRAC

I've been wanting to learn how to develop for the Android platform, and I recently took some time to start a project to do just that. YAGRAC is Yet Another GoodReads Android Client. I've made the source code open source, so feel free to take a look or download the client and let me know what you think.

GoodReads is a social book reading service that I am a huge fan of. You can keep track of books that you have read, want to read, or are currently reading. Your friends can follow your list of books to see what you are up to. It is great for finding like-minded readers and discovering new books to enjoy. The GoodReads site is great, but when I'm away from my desk the mobile site leaves me wishing for more. GoodReads does not have an official app for iPhone or Android, so I though, why not make one myself! So far I have implemented the ability to read updates from friends, browse books on my own shelves or someone else's shelves, search for books, and review my list of social contacts (friends, followers, and following).

This project has proven to be a very good and effective learning opportunity. As I encounter interesting bits I will be sure to share them here.

Exercise Tracking Applications

I enjoy going out for a jog a few times each week. It is a good way to keep in shape, and it it gives me some personal time to zone out, listen to a podcast or music, or just collect my thoughts. I'm also a geek, and I love stats. I love collecting stats from my runs. I've used a number of different run tracking gadgets and applications, and I thought I would share my thoughts on each.

RunKeeper

RunKeeper is a mobile application available for both iPhone and Android that uses the GPSr built into the phone to track your run, hike, bike, or any other type of trip. It uses the GPSr information to determine your location and speed, and can provide both mapping at run statistics information.

The user interface for RunKeeper is not pretty, but the real killer for me on this product is that the GPSr accuracy is horrible. This is surprising when you consider other applications running on the same hardware gave much better results, as you will see later. I made two runs with RunKeeper, and both showed totally unrealistic pace and distance information, and the track on the map was all over the place. Other gripes include a lack of integration to music on the device and no support for voice enunciation.

The only positive thing to say about RunKeeper is that the online portal where runs are stored is actually quite nice. Oh, and the price is just right at Free.

RunStar

RunStar is a jogging application available only on the Android platform. It integrates with the music service to play your favorite playlist, or randomly play through the entire library. It has a power song feature which will play a specific track at the press of a button. RunStar tracks your run using the GPSr of your Android phone.

The user interface for RunStar is very nicely done. The UI is clean and well designed for use in an armband while you run with large buttons and text display. It even includes a custom sleep screen that displays your run stats. The GPSr tracking is actually quite good, which is surprising considering the horrible performance of the RunKeeper application on the same hardware. RunStar offers Twitter integration, allowing you to tweet the summary stats for your run, and Facebook integration is coming.

There are some nags I have with the application though. First, there is no online portal to view a summary of all runs. Instead, the only place to review your previous runs is via the app on your phone. Second, voice enunciation would be great. Voice enunciation is a feature that periodically speaks over your music to let you know your current distance, time, and pace.

RunStar is currently in beta development, and you can load the app for free. From the website and disabled features in the app, it is clear that the developers have some ambitious goals. This is definitely an app to watch.

Google My Tracks

My Tracks is another Android only application for tracking your exercise. Like the previous applications it utilizes the GPSr on your device to track your location and determine your distance traveled, speed, elevation, and other stats.

The My Tracks user interface is somewhere between RunKeeper and RunStar. It isn't a great UI for use while running, but it is easy to understand and use. There are three main views: the map, trip computer, and speed / elevation graph. Unfortunately, My Tracks does not include direct integration with the music features of the device, so you will need to manage your music / podcast playing separately from tracking your run. Also, the default accuracy setting for the GPS is pretty awful (over 600') so my first run thought I was tearing around town at speeds on par with The Flash. On my second run I dialed it down to the most accurate setting (33') and the run tracking was very good.

Your My Tracks data can be uploaded both to Google Docs and to Google Maps. This allows you to review runs online, and also to share them with friends. My Tracks does not offer Twitter, Facebook, or other social media integration, so tweeting your stats must be done manually.

One huge advantage My Tracks has over the RunStar and RunKeeper is voice enunciation. You can setup the interval at which you will be notified, and the voice over states your distance, time, and pace. I love this feature, as it lets me know if I'm dogging it or if I have attacked to hard early.

Nike+

The Nike+ system is available in stand-alone form as a USB wrist band, or integrated with your iPod Touch, iPod Nano, or iPhone. The Nike+ system is unique from the others mentioned here as it uses a pedometer placed in the shoe rather than a GPSr to track your run. This limits the use of the Nike+ system to walks, jogs, running, and hiking. It is not able to track cycling, kayaking, or other sports that lack a foot impact. On the other hand, the Nike+ system is the only one mentioned here that will work for treadmill workouts.

The Nike+ user interface is dead simple on your iPod. I place it on par with the RunStar UI, as it is easy to use during a workout, and clear how to setup a run and get started. While the pedometer can only count steps, after configuring your stride length it is quite good at providing an estimate of your distance traveled. The voice enunciation support on the iPod is superior to My Tracks in that it can be configured to announce stats based on distance intervals in addition to time intervals, and includes an on demand announcement as well. Like RunStar, the Nike+ integrates with the music on your device and allows for playing a playlist or randomly playing the entire library. The Power Song feature is also present.

The Nike+ website is vastly superior to the others mentioned here. When you dock your iPod your run is uploaded to the Nike+ site where you can review it along with all of your other runs. You can add friends through the site and compare runs and total progress. You can set goals and share maps with other runners for nice running routes. Nike+ offers integration to both Twitter and Facebook, allowing you to automatically post your run stats to either service.

The only thing missing from the Nike+ system is a GPSr to track the route of your run (note: this might be either under development or available on the iPhone version, I have only used the iPod Nano version). Another potential drawback to the Nike+ system is that it requires the pebble pedometer in your shoe. While you can use the pebble in any pair of shoes, it is most comfortable with Nike+ branded shoes. If you happen to forget either the pebble or your shoes when you want to go for a run, you won't be able to track your run.

My Pick

I love the Nike+ system, and feel that of the systems mentioned here it is the clear winner. Unfortunately, I packed away my Nike+ dongle for my iPod Nano when we prepared to move, so I haven't been able to use it. Of the apps available on my Android phone, the My Tracks service is the one I will be using for now, but I'm keeping an eye on RunStar as I feel it has great potential.

Effective Presenting

I've given a number of presentations to a variety of audiences. Over time I've developed a mental list of things to look for in providing an effective presentation.

Ear lobes and eye balls.

Where do you want the audience's attention? If you are giving a presentation, you want the audience to be focusing on you and the words you are saying. Complicated slides with lots of text and images will distract your audience from what you are saying and give them an excuse to tune out. Make sure the content on the slide is an augmentation of your spoken content, not a replacement for it.

PowerPoint is a horrible format for a white paper.

If your goal is to deliver documentation, deliver a document. Slides are for presentations, not documentation. There is nothing worse than sitting in a presentation where the presenter does nothing more than read their slides to you.

Expect to be interrupted.

If your audience is paying attention, they should have questions. Be prepared to stop at any moment and discuss either a detail of what you said or a detail on your slide. This is a good argument for limiting content, both spoken and on the slide, as it limits interruptions and side conversations. If you haven't been stopped, no one is listening.

Build in transitions.

For group presentations, build in a transition to cue the next speaker. Jumping directly to the first content slide of a follow-up speaker gives the audience time to digest the slide and make assumptions without the guidance of the speaker. This can lead to an ambush, or lack of attention.

Be concise.

You are brilliant. You've done an incredible amount of research on your topic and you want to show your audience how brilliant you are. Your audience, on the other hand, is probably bored and pressed for time. Assume your audience is a bunch of six year old kids hopped up on mountain dew and pixie sticks. Get your message across directly and immediately. Follow-up with reinforcement.

Be consistent.

Use a consistent layout. Turn on snap to grid and rulers. Be sure that common content elements appear in the same position throughout. Do not make your audience go hunting around the slide. Get familiar with the slide master.

Know your message.

Related to being concise, know the message you are trying to deliver. Everything you say or show should be geared towards reinforcing that message. If you can't relate the slide or discussion to your message, remove it.

Time the material.

Practice the presentation to get a feel for timing. Are you way over your time limit? Way under? Leave 10-20% of your available time for discussion.

One idea per slide.

Just because you can fit a lot of things on one slide doesn't mean you should. Focus on just one concept per slide. Loading a slide up with multiple concepts will only lead to confusion.

Over-prepare

All those slides you took out to be concise: put them in a different slide deck. Any additional material that someone might ask you for, such as data to backup your findings, keep in that second slide deck. Call it your Fully Updated (F.U.) slide deck. This way, if you suffer the misfortune of someone in the audience questioning your research, you've got it covered with a big F.U.

Wake 'em up

Let's face it, you and everyone in that room would rather be somewhere else. The longer the presentation the higher likelihood that your audience will lose interest. Throw something in there to wake them up. It can be anything, speaker transitions, physical samples, audience participation, home video of you bungee jumping, whatever. Find a way to break the monotony.

Warning signs that things are going very, very wrong

• No interruptions
• Waiting on audience to finish reading / digesting your slide
• Your spoken content doesn't track with your slides
• Lack of eye contact

Warning signs that things are going very, very well

• Lots of interruptions / questions
• Audience discussion
• Eye contact

Related Materials

Here are links to great materials on effective presenting.

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs - How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience

Don't Make Me Think - Geared towards web usability, but applicable to presentations as well

TED Talks - Watch a few of these videos online. These are some of the world's greatest presenters exhibiting their craft.

eBook Readers

I enjoy reading books from time to time, and the amount of reading I have done over the past few years has really increased. Maybe it is a sign of getting older, but I find myself spending less time on video games and more time on movies and books. A number of my friends are avid readers as well, and it is nice to keep up with what everyone is reading through the GoodReads website. One of my friends, @asniksch, is an avid reader and was an early adopter of the Sony eReader products. I scoffed with derision at the idea: paying hundreds of dollars for the privilege to pay double the regular price of a book, and then to be limited to battery life? It seemed ludicrous. He liked the product, but noted a number of major drawbacks that resulted in disuse after a period of time.

Next came the Kindle, and not long after, the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX. @asniksch, ever the early adopter, got one and touted the features of the platform. Again, I scoffed. At $500, the price was much too high to be reasonable, and electronic books were still priced higher than dead tree books. Sure, for the heavy traveler it would be great to be able to carry several books without loading down your bags. I'm not a heavy traveler though. I haven't asked him about his Kindle recently, but I get the impression that he is much happier with it than with the Sony product. In addition, several more of my acquaintances have picked up a Kindle and have talked about how nice they are.

A couple of things have changed since I last scoffed at eReaders. First, I've been traveling quite a bit more. Second, my reading time has significantly increased. Third, the price of eBook readers has dropped significantly. Both the Kindle and nook are available for around $260, which is nearly half of what they cost a couple of years ago. Apple has entered the arena with the iPad, which is not a dedicated book reader but does have that functionality.

So now it is time for me to eat a bit of crow. @asniksch was ahead of his time, but he was right to think that the eReader was a viable product. I am totally drooling over a nook, and really hoping to get one for Father's Day. The ability to take a number of books with me as I travel is a big winner. In addition, we are about to move into a tiny home while we build our new home. I won't have the space to maintain my trophy case of books. An eReader is an excellent space saver. The free wireless service is a big winner too. One thing that struck me as interesting recently is that I book I want to reader, Edenborn by Nick Sagan, was not available in dead tree format in bookstores, but was available in electronic format. Also, another book I want to read is only available in hardback version in stores, and the electronic version price is much lower.

Maybe I have allowed my gadget lust to overrule my better sense. I'll be crossing my fingers for a new toy, and let you know how I like it if I get one.

Quit Pushing Buttons!

For some time now I have been accusing my wife of pressing buttons on the phone in the middle of our conversations. At least once in every phone our conversation is interrupted by the distinctive tone of a button press. I'm not the only one to notice this either, as other folks she speaks with regularly also remark on how, occasionally, they hear a button press mid-call. My wife is certain that she isn't pressing anything, and is perplexed as to how this is happening. In investigating a solution to a different problem, I think I might have found the answer.

Dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signaling is the technology that allows us to navigate those infuriating customer support menus. Also known as touch-tone dialing, DTMF employs the use of multiple frequencies to create a dual tone sound in the normal voice band (we can hear it) over an analog phone line. The receiver on the other end of the call can listen for these specific frequency combinations to know that a button has been pressed and react to that action in some manner.

DTMF is great when you are using an analog phone line, but VoIP and cell phones use digital signals. In order to be compatible with plain old telephone service (POTS) phones, digital phone systems will use a variety of techniques for recognizing button presses. Unfortunately, some of those techniques can be fooled by a female voice. I think this is what is happening on our phone conversations. It looks like I need to go make an apology.

We do not have a landline phone. Instead, we both carry cell phones (Verizon) and use them for all of our calling. In addition, I use Google Voice for making and receiving calls. So now the question is: which product in the chain of communication is introducing these false DTMF tones?

Have you noticed this with anyone you speak to frequently? If so, what is the chain of communication that is resulting in the errant tone? Ours is:

LG Flip Phone <-> Verizon <-> Google Voice <-> Verizon <-> Motorola DROID

Indianapolis Water

How much attention do you pay to your bills? Do you go through them line by line? Do you save the invoice? I drive my wife bonkers because I save all of the invoices from every bill. I also go through them line by line. I've gotten into the habit of scanning the invoices and destroying the originals to save on stored paper in the house, but at any time I can go through our old bills and make comparisons.

I'm also a nut for maintaining a budget in our house. I know how much to expect on a bill for any given period, and when a bill is off from that expectation I go through it line by line to find out why. Our cable and internet bill is usually the one that gets the most attention as I'm always watching for those introductory discounts to fall off. I was a bit surprised over the course of the last year to find that the Indianapolis Water bill was also fluctuating in seeming erratic fashion.

For those of you in the Indianapolis area serviced by Indianapolis water, go take a look at your bill. You'll notice that there are a few factors that make up your bill: a base rate, volume of water used (in 100's of cubic feet), rate applied to that volume usage, and a tax percentage. The Indianapolis Water utility folks come out from time to time and take a look at the meter leading into your house to get a reading on how much water you have used. They don't do this every month, so you may notice some bills marked with an 'E' to indicate that the volume usage was estimated for the month, and that the next month they will come out for a proper measurement.

Over the course of the last year I've noticed a significant increase in our bill. I was curious why: were we using more water, had the rate gone up, or was it some combination of both. I naturally suspected that our summer bills would be a bit higher as we watered the lawn and filled the inflatable pool for the kids, but I was very surprised to see that our winter bills were higher than those from the summer. What was going on?!

I went through all of those saved bills (huzzah!) and made a spreadsheet looking at our usage and costs throughout the year. Here is what I found:

This chart shows our bill from 01/30/2009 through 02/25/2010. For the first half of 2009 the trend was fairly level, but then we see that increasing trend, even through the winter. That concerned me. So what about my usage?

Well, that explains part of it. Our usage did go up through the winter months. I have a couple of theories on that. One, we have three kids, and in August our youngest hit the one year mark. Three young kids get dirty, no matter what time of year, and that means lots of baths. It also means lots of laundry and lots of dishes. So this could conceivably account for our usage increase. Still, our bill increased by nearly 50%, while our usage only increased by around 30%. Where did the additional cost come from? The Indianapolis Water bill indicates the base rate (what you pay regardless of how much water you use), but does not indicate the usage rate (what you pay for each 100 cubic feet of water). So I charted those as well.

Yuck, our base rate went up by about a dollar each month.

Whoah, and we had a 20 cent increase per 100 cubic feet. Double whammy!

So that explains why my bill has increased: increased usage coupled with increased base and variable rates. All together, the bill breaks down as follows:

Item	Jan 2009 Rate	Jan 2010 Rate
Base Rate	$8.21	$9.10
Cost per 100 cubic feet	$1.82	$2.02
Tax	7%	7%

The only part of this bill that remained constant over that period was the tax rate of 7%. I'm still curious why the base rate and variable rates fluctuated from May through September of 2009. I would have expected a clean cut-over from one rate to another, but instead we see it bobble up and down until it settles on a rate in October. Have you noticed similar behavior in your bills?

An interesting bit of trivia - Indianapolis Water provides the water, and Hamtilton Southeastern Utilities takes care of sewage. In this same period, my Hamilton Southeastern Utilities bill remained a constant $33.55.

2010 Shamrock Run

I've been pretty good about regularly jogging over the past year. At least twice a week I would be on the treadmill at night getting in about 5K. I kept telling myself that I was going to enter at least one 5K race in 2009, but it never happened. A few weeks ago I saw that my friend Chris had completed a 5K as part of the training series for the Indy 500 Mini Marathon. I remembered how I had failed on my promise to myself in 2009 and resolved to make it happen in 2010.

My first task was to find a way to start running outside. Running on a treadmill is convenient, and it is good exercise, but it is definitely not the same as running outside. My typical day was to wake up a little before 8am, get prepped and out the door by 8:30 and into the office around 9:30am. Most evenings I left work between 6:30 and 7:00. Getting home so late meant that, even if the sun were still out, my family wasn't going to wait around on me to run before having supper. So my running time didn't come up until after dinner and getting the kids to bed, which means 9pm at the earliest. It's pretty dark at 9pm in Indiana, especially in February. Most nights I don't get to bed until 2 or 3 in the morning. I've been like that all my life - I've always had trouble going to bed at a decent hour, but I seem to operate just fine on only a few hours of sleep each night. I'm definitely not a morning runner, so I had to find a way to be able to get home with a enough time to run before dinner, and while the sun was still up.

My solution was to shift the start of my day back. Now my alarm goes off at 6am and I'm usually at the office by 7 or 7:30am. An added benefit of this early wake is that traffic is much lighter. I leave from work around 4:30, which again helps to avoid traffic but it also gets me home with enough time to run before dinner. I've been running outside these last two weeks and getting my legs in road run shape.

This is all in preparation for my first road race of 2010: The Indianapolis St. Patrick's Day Celebration Shamrock Run. It is a 4 mile race in downtown Indy.

View Larger Map

I pushed my distance past 4 miles on Friday, and I've got two more weeks to continue prep for this race. I don't intend to put in anything like a competitive time, but I would be really pleased if I finished in under 45 minutes. The registration information says that runners are expected to keep a minimum of a 12 minute per mile pace, and that is pretty close to my jogging pace. Hopefully I don't irritate some poor race volunteer by puttering through this course.

New Blog

I've been neglecting this blog for going on seven years now. In that time I've posted just about anything that seemed to hit my brain. The result is that, while this blog does present a diary of my life and thoughts, it lacks a central focus. If a reader were regularly visiting my blog in hopes of seeing coding and gadget posts, they would be frustrated by the movie reviews, book reviews, game reviews, political rants, and other detritus that periodically appears here. So to solve that issue, I've started a new blog that will be focused only on the techy type stuff I do. I still intend to post here whenever I gut a burr in my saddle, but if the topic of the post has to do with coding, computing, or some other technical subject I'll be posting it here instead. I've already copied over my existing technical posts, and I hope I can provide interesting content there in the future.

Ink

I received a lot of fantastic gifts over Christmas time, and the two that have gotten the most use are the water cooler and Netflix subscription. I don't have much more to say about the water cooler (aside from how awesome it is to have hot and cold, good tasting water in the basement). The Netflix subscription has given me an opportunity to watch a lot of films, and the one I watched tonight left me with some thoughts.

Ink is an independent film shot on a small budget about a girl who falls into a coma and enters a dream world with opposing forces fighting for her soul. First, let me say that I am not an indie film fan. Not that I have something against indie films, just that I've never had any strong desire to go to Sundance or anything. So even though this movie showed up as recommended for me on Netflix streaming, I was reluctant to watch it. I'm glad I did, but now I'm struggling to decide just what I think of it, and whether I would recommend it.

The budget for this movie was small (under $250,000) and no major publishing studio picked it up. Still, it is pretty impressive what the film makers were able to pull off on that budget. There are no fantastic special effects, but what effects are in the film fit well. I was a bit put off by some of the performances and camera work. At times I thought, "these guys are making a movie in their yard!" Even so, the story is well told.

Which brings me to the story. I liked the story. It is an important tale to tell, and I would recommend this story to others. I would recommend it even more strongly if there were a big budget remake, because I think I could have really enjoyed it more that way, but as it stands, I feel comfortable recommending this movie to others. I will say that you should set your expectations low going in. You aren't going to be blown away by incredible action sequences, or wowed by some clever special effect. Once you've watched it I hope that it leaves you thinking about the message, which it did for me.

By the way, if you would like to watch Ink, it is available for instant streaming on Netflix, as well as Hulu.

Exit 5 is Broken

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Every day my commute takes me to exit 5 on I-69. I can say with a high level of confidence that this exit is broken, especially when taken from I-69 northbound. It is a sad situation, as a great deal of work recently went into "improving" this exit. Exit 5 services two major roads: SR37 and 116th street. The recent road construction extended the start of the exit ramp by a half mile to the south, so that just after passing under the 106th street overpass vehicles can take the exit. About a quarter mile further north the exit increases by a lane, with the right hand lane intended for vehicles exiting at 116th and the left hand lane for those going north on SR37. The trouble is that the line of cars queued up for exit five regularly backs up all the way to 96th street. Traffic attempting to merge from 96th street heading north is blocked by a wall of vehicles that are trying to dive down to the right-most lane to get in the exit 5 queue. In addition, traffic already heading north is preparing for the four lane interstate to become two lanes. The net result is a huge mess of vehicles.

The most frustrating part is that the portion of exit 5 that I need is almost always clear of traffic, but is impossible to get to. As I said, there is typically a solid line of vehicles in the right most lane that runs from 116th street all the way back to 96th street. From what I can tell, nearly all of the traffic in this lane is looking to head north on SR37. My usual tactic is to bypass as much of this traffic as possible until the exit has grown from one lane to two lanes. At this point, I just hope for a gap. Now you might be thinking, "What a jerk, get in line like everybody else!", but remember that the lane I'm aiming for is empty. If I can just squeeze through that wall of folks heading north on SR37 then I wouldn't be inconveniencing anyone.

I don't like to present a problem without attempting to present a solution, so here is potential solution: separate the exits for SR37 and 116th street. The SR37 exit should be moved north of 116th, expanded to two lanes, and moved to the left most lanes of I69. The traffic in those left lanes needs to merge down anyway since the lanes are ending, so this would be a good way to get that traffic sorted. I think this would greatly diminish the traffic at exit 5, ease the troubles of traffic merging from 96th street, and help those attempting to go north on SR37.

HP Mini 1000 - Upgrading the Transcend JetFlash T3

A while back I posted about the HP Mini 1000 and some of the ways it can be upgraded. Probably the easiest upgrade is to the Transcend JetFlash T3 drive that comes with the machine, and fills the recessed USB slot. The Mini comes with a 2GB drive, and the easiest upgrade is to simply purchase a higher capacity Transcend drive in the same line. The 4GB unit is priced at $16.70 on the Transcend store website, or $16.29 from Amazon.

I found a neat alternative. Kingston offers a MicroSDHC card that comes with a MicroSDHC card reader whose form factor is very similar to that of the JetFlash T3. The 4GB card with reader is priced at $14.95 through Amazon currently. I wanted to upgrade the MicroSD card in my GPSr anyway, so this seemed like a good opportunity to try it out.

The first thing I noticed when I got the package was that the MicroSDHC reader is about 20% shorter than the Transcend card. Aside from that, the form factor was perfect. I slotted the 4GB MicroSDHC card into the reader, and then slide it into the small holder that covers the recessed USB port on the Mini. I slid everything into place, but nothing happened. Unfortunately, the shorter length means that the pads don't quite reach to make a connection to the USB port. All is not lost though. With a bit of fiddling, I found I could get the reader to slot into the recessed port without any issue. At that point, I can leave the cover on or off, it doesn't really matter, as the reader is completely within the recessed slot. If you do want to keep the cover on, be sure to slot the reader into the cover first, as trying to push the cover on over the reader after it has been slotted is a chore. Getting the reader back out again is a bit of a trick, but nothing you couldn't do with a handy set of tweezers, or a small set of needle nose pliers.

Given the lower price of MicroSDHC card and reader at the same capacity, I think this is a pretty good way to upgrade your machine. Another advantage is that, as MicroSDHC card capacities increase and prices drop you can continue to upgrade this part.

Geocaching

I've recently gotten into the sport / hobby of geocaching. What is geocaching? Think of it like a treasure hunt, or the world's biggest easter egg hunt, and it is going on every day all over the world. The way this sport works is that someone out there hides a container, call the cache, that holds, at a minimum, a logbook for those who find it to sign. The person who hides the cache locates a clever hiding location, and then gets a GPS fix of the location. The hider then registers the cache on a website such as http://www.geocaching.com/ and publishes the lattitude and longitude from the GPS fix of the cache. Once published, anyone else is welcome to use that location data to try to track down the cache. Given this basic description it sounds pretty simple, but clever hiders can make it really fun and interesting to find the cache, even when you know exactly where it should be.

Cache Types

There are various types of caches. A traditional cache is a container with, at a minimum, a logbook to sign. The cache can be as small as a match book or 35mm film case, all the way up to a large storage container or ammo box. Larger caches usually contain little tchotchkes, toys, and doodads that younger finders can trade for. There are also virtual caches with no container at all, the destination being the goal. Puzzle caches and multi-stage caches are fun variations where you must either first solve a puzzle to get the true coordinates, or find successive stages before reaching the final goal.

Types of Hides

There are as many ways to hide a geocache as there are geocachers. That said, I've noticed that there are some common features to some hides. Many smaller caches use a magnet or some other method to affix themselves to something else. Hollowed out trees are a common hiding location too, as well as under a fallen log or under a pile of sticks. There are also some ways to know that you are looking in the wrong place for a cache. If it looks like you would have to hurt yourself or break the law to get to the hiding place, it probably isn't hidden there. One of the best pieces of advice I've received on how to spot a cache is to not look for the container, but instead look for where you would hide the cache. The coordinates of the cache won't necessarily be right on top of the hiding place, it may only get you within 20 or 30 feet.

Trackable Items

Aside from the logbook and simple toys, you might find a trackable item in a geocache. A travel bug is an item that has a dog tag attached to it with a unique serial number. These items are trackable at the Geocaching.com website, and often have a stated goal, such as racing from one ocean to another, or reaching a specific destination. A geocoin is similar in that it has a unique ID, but in this case the coin itself is what is traveling, rather than what is attached to the tag. Many avid geocachers have also created custom tokens that they drop into each cache they find, sort of like a calling card.

Etiquette

There is a bit of etiquette that goes along with geocaching. Foremost is discretion. Caches are intended to be hidden, and only known to those who are looking for them. Non-geocachers nearby the location are known as muggles (think Harry Potter), and it is important not to expose the cache to muggles. There are a couple of bad things that can happen if you do. A curious muggle might investigate after you leave and find the cache. Not knowing what they have found, they may take it with them, spoiling the fun for anyone else looking for it. Worse, they may think it is something dangerous and call the police. Another important bit of etiquette is to respect the property owners in the area. Caches should only be placed in either publicly accessible areas, or in rare cases, private areas where permission has been granted. Regardless of where the cache is, care should be taken to respect the goodwill of the owner of the grounds by not trespassing through private property or littering. In fact, many geocachers will take an empty trash bag with them to 'Cache In - Trash Out', picking up any litter they might find along the way. Once you have located a cache, if you intend to take something from the cache it is important to replace it with something of your own. Nothing can disappoint a young child on a treasure hunt like opening an empty treasure chest. One exception is travel bugs and geocoins. In this case, it is ok to take the item to help it toward the goal, but be sure to log that you have taken the item at the Geocaching.com website so the owner knows where it is. Finally, when replacing the cache, try to hide it as you found it, or better, and always in the same location. There are probably other bits of etiquette, but I'm too new to this to know what they might be.

Gear

There are a few things to take with you that will enhance your fun with geocaching. The most common tool is a GPS receiver of some kind. While you might be able to get by with a print from Google Maps, having a good GPS receiver will greatly increase your chances of success. Most modern smart phones (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, etc.) either have a true GPS antenna, or are able to get a GPS fix based on nearby cell phone towers. Native applications are available for many of these phones that will get you on your way. Stand alone GPS receivers are also available and can range in price from one to several hundred dollars depending on the features of the unit. I use a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx. In addition, it is a good idea to wear durable clothes that will protect you as you hike through rougher terrain. A good pair of hiking shoes will help you keep a grip on the trail and prevent rolled ankles. Pants, long socks, and a light jacket will protect you from common trail hazards, and some good bug repellent is also a good idea. When hunting smaller caches, you will want to bring your own pen or pencil to sign the log, as often times the cache will not have room for one. Aside from these, anything you might want on a hike would be good to take, such as a bottle of water, camera, snacks, walking stick, etc.

Why Go?

There are lots of aspects to this hobby that I enjoy. It is a reason to get outside. I work at a job that has my butt in a chair for eight to ten hours a day. Once I get home, my typical evening entertainment (after the kids are in bed) is to watch some TV, surf the web, or play some video games. Geocaching is a great excuse to get outside and enjoy some of what nature has to offer. Geocaching is also something that my whole family can do together. I'll admit, it is a bit of a struggle with a one year old, but our three year old and five year old love going out and hunting for treasure. They like trading out some old toy they are bored with for whatever is in the cache, even if it is something simple. It is also nice that we work together on these outings. Finally, getting out on the hunt is decent exercise. I've read where some folks mix their running workouts with geocaching, jogging from cache to cache. I'm satisfied with getting in a healthy walk. I'm having a lot of fun with geocaching, and I would highly recommend it to anyone with a taste for the outdoors.

Angel Investors and Charging for the Pitch

Jason Calacanis is a very successful entrepreneur who is associated with some of the best known sites on the web. He is also an angel investor, and has recently taken other angel investors to task for charging startups to pitch their idea.

One of the first truisms anyone learns in the business world is that it takes money to make money. Even the best ideas need some seed capital to get off the ground. There are a number of ways to get this initial funding. You can exhaust your personal savings and go into debt. You can borrow from friends, family, banks, or anyone else that trusts you. Alternatively, you can seek out investors. One type of investor is the angel investor, someone who has independent wealth and is looking to invest it in startups. These investors typically provide the investment in return for a form of ownership in the business. In this way, if the startup is a success, the angel can reap some of the same rewards as the entrepreneur. In addition, if the angel invests wisely (or just gets lucky) the returns can be much greater than what other forms of investment might provide.

How does someone green to the startup business approach an angel investor? Networking, networking, networking is the best answer. Work your network of contacts until you can find someone who will put you in front of an investor who will listen to your idea. If all goes well, you get your funding and become a huge success. Are there any other ways? Many angel investors participate in workshops, conventions, and other events where many startups are able to pitch to a group of angels at one time. In some cases the angel investor(s) ask that a fee be paid. This fee could be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to possibly several thousand dollars as well as a ownership stake in the business. Is that an ethical practice? Jason Calacanis of Mahalo says no, and is calling out those angels who require entrepreneurs to pay to pitch their idea.

It is easy to side with Jason on this debate. From the entrepreneurs perspective, you have little money to start with, and a wealthy investor asking you to pay to present your idea seems like a kick in the teeth. Jason's position is taken from the basis that these wealthy investors can certainly afford the cost of a meeting room and a cup of coffee where the startup would struggle to provide those things. To an extent, I believe what Jason is saying is right. Angels that prey on the naiveté of new startups are as unsavory as those "modeling workshops" you may seen advertised throughout the year. On the other hand, I feel that there is a need to play the devil's advocate here.

One statement I take issue with is the supposition that an investor's time is both infinite and worthless. An investor's time is certainly not infinite. Investors are not stupid, and have typically attained their wealth by getting the most return on their time and effort. So is it so wrong for an investor to expect their time to be compensated for listening to a pitch? Jason even admits in his post that he is inundated with pitches, much like a lottery winner might have people come from every corner to ask for money. If I were in the investors shoes (and wouldn't that be great!) would I really be interested in opening the floodgates? Would it be worth my while to wade through thousands upon thousands of ideas to find the one I find interesting? Perhaps. On the other hand, I could assign some small fee to each pitch that says, "If you pay this fee, you go to the top of the stack and are guaranteed to get read." This could be taken a step farther, "If you pay for my time I commit to acting as a consultant for so many hours, advising you on your business and potentially making an investment." According to Mr. Calacanis, any form of payment for listening to a pitch is wrong. Not only is he calling out those that require payments, but he is seeking out those who might pitch to these investors and actively discouraging them from working with these folks. He is engaging in a tremendous smear campaign against anyone who charges startups to pitch their idea.

So is the Jason way the only way? Again, I have to say for the most part, I agree with him. The number of investors out there who ask a nominal fee and provide real value on that money are far outnumbered by those who are simply preying on the ignorance of others. Still, I do believe that there are those out there charging a small fee for their time who are legitimately providing value, so I can't agree 100%. I wish the Jason Nation the best of luck in exposing the most grievous offenders, and hopefully this leads to more great ideas getting the funding they deserve.

Have you ever paid to pitch? Did you get funded? If not, did you still feel as though your pitch money was well spent? Should those who charged and provided value be praised or vilified?

Proud of my Grandmother (You Go GG!)

I love my grandmother, very much. We don't see eye to eye on most political issues though. Leading up to the election last year we both said some things that rubbed each other the wrong way. We're family, though, and we love each other, so this was water quickly under the bridge.

My grandmother doesn't like our president very much. She doesn't like his policies. She doesn't like the direction he is taking our country. She has been pretty vocal about it too.

This week, I saw a note from my aunt that she had to spend some time on the phone calming my grandmother down. It seems that she caught wind of schools in her area not showing the president's speech to their students. She was really worked up: how could anyone show such blatant disrespect for our president? And over such a wholesome and needed message?

I love my grandmother, very much. I am hugely impressed by the amount of character that it shows in her to not only feel that the president deserves our respect, but to speak out against those who would do otherwise. Especially since she is defending someone she disagrees with so strongly. It made me very proud to be her grandson.

Rural Internet

My family and I are preparing to move out of the city and into a more rural setting. As part of that move, I've been researching what sorts of internet service will be available to us. At our current residence we have a number of different options for high speed internet service. We currently use the U-Verse service offered by AT&T. We are using the 1.5Mbps service, which adds $15 / month in cost to our U-Verse television bill. Comcast also offers high speed internet service, and I'm sure we could get DSL from any number of folks. Go a few miles outside of a dense residential area and your options quickly become limited.

There are four types of service that I have found that will be available at our new location:

• Dial-Up
• Satellite
• Cellular Wireless
• Microwave Wireless

Dial-Up

Dial-up internet service is the old standby that hasn't changed in over 10 years. The top speed is still pegged at 56kbps (ignoring the "speed boosting" tech that some vendors claim). Depending on the service provider, rates run anywhere from $10-$20 / month. However, we don't plan on having a home phone, so add to this cost the price to install a home phone (around $25 / month with AT&T) for the sole purpose of using dial-up, and it comes to $35 or more per month for that sluggish dial-up internet connection. It would be useful for the most basic internet uses: browsing basic web pages and sending e-mail. Forget about online gaming or rich web media though. Compare this to our U-Verse service, which is the equivalent of 1,500kbps for $20 less each month, and it would be a serious step backward.

Satellite

There are a few satellite internet providers, Hughes and WildBlue being the most prominent. Hughes offers 1.0Mbps down, 128kbps up service for $60 / month, while WildBlue tiers their service at 512K down / 128K up for $50, or 1.5M down / 256K up for $80. Those are fine speeds, if a little pricey. The real gotcha here is latency. It used to be that with satellite internet you only received data over the dish, and all of your uploads were on your telephone line. Now you get both your up and down data from the dish, but the latency can be anywhere up to 5 seconds. Compare that to the typical sub 0.1 second latency of other internet connections, and it is a big downer. This makes the satellite internet service unusable for things like voice chat, VPN connection for working at home, or online gaming. Using a VPN connection and online gaming are high priorities for me from my internet connection, so that eliminated satellite from contention.

Cellular Wireless

Cell phone companies offer data plans for their users who have smart phones (Blackberry, iPhone, Android, etc.). This offers a fairly speedy (348kbps or faster) way to access the internet. Most carriers offer mobile broadband service with the intention that you use it occasionally with your laptop, not as your dedicated home connection. Across providers, the standard seems to be to offer up to 5GB of downloads per month for $60 / month. That may seem like a lot, but it really isn't when it is your dedicated connection for home. You can quickly exhaust that 5GB quota and start paying exorbitant rates per additional kilobyte downloaded. For example, let's say a new product revision is released, and the download is 1GB or more. If there are alternate versions, I could exhaust all 5GB in a single afternoon. The idea of these caps is to prevent folks from hogging the network with P2P applications, swapping movies all day, and to keep usage as intended: occasional use on a mobile device. The net effect for me is that cellular is not an option as a home ISP.

Microwave Wireless

I found microwave wireless service to be the best mix of speeds, price, and availability. There are several service providers that can provide service to our location. With microwave wireless you need line-of-sight to the tower providing the signal. A small antenna is mounted on your home and communicates wirelessly with the main tower. Depending on geography and tree line, these systems can offer service in a 15-30 mile radius around a tower. Prices vary by speed, with it ranging from $35 / month for 512K down, 256 up service to $90 / month for speeds over 1Mbps. There isn't a single dominant player in this market like there is in the national cellular market. The best deals I found were offered by a local company: Hoosier Broadband.

512K/256 $34.95 Residential Service

768K/384 $44.95 Residential Service

1.5M/512 $69.95 Residential Service

512K/256 $54.95 Business Service

768K/384 $64.95 Business Service

The difference between residential service and business service is that Hoosier Broadband reserves the right to lower the priority of residential traffic in deference to their business customers, and business customers are guaranteed support within 24 hours. Residential customers are not. I'm not yet decided on whether I would choose the business or residential service. As the majority of my usage is late at night, I think the residential service should suffice, but given that I also intend to use this service when I need to work from home, the business service might be more prudent. Either way, I would be selecting the 768K service, which is half of what we get now from AT&T. A cut back, yes, but not a terrible one.

DSL, FiOS, and ISDN

Just a quick note on these services: they aren't available. In fact, you probably can't remember the last time (or ever) hearing about ISDN. When I contacted the phone company, they said they are not selling new connections, but only maintaining existing accounts. That's fine, as ISDN has all of the drawbacks of dial-up with a higher cost and only barely better speeds. FiOS would be awesome, but there's no chance of getting that in a rural area as it is too expensive for Verizon to pull new fiber down country roads for a handful of customers. Maybe someday DSL will be an option, but not now.

Summary

I think that microwave wireless is one service that we will hear a lot about in the coming years. One of the president's major policy initiatives is to increase access to broadband internet service for rural Americans. Installing a tower for wireless transmission is one of the most cost effective ways to do that, and the FCC is in active talks concerning opening up more of our wireless spectrum for data traffic (this is a major reason why we had the recent switch from analog to digital television over the air). I'm hopeful that these changes will result in more options for me as rural internet consumer, and lower prices.

Proactive Budgeting with Double-Entry Bookkeeping

I am a nut about maintaining a budget in our house, and even more so now that we are planning to build a new home. I've used tools in the past, such as Microsoft Money, that allow me to tracker where the money went and to get an idea of what my regular expenses are. The problem I have with these tools is that they are reactive. They are only useful to me after I have spent my cash, not before. In my opinion, systems that give you a postmortem on your finances are not really useful. I want to feel the pain before I spend, not after. If I feel pain before, I have a chance to avoid spending at all, thus alleviating the pain of deviating from our budget (and potentially running into debt).

The system that I've come to use is decidedly low tech, but very effective. Using Google Docs I created a spreadsheet and added worksheets for all of our regular expenses, both monthly and annually. There are additional worksheets for our accounts: credit, checking, savings, loans, etc. Finally, there are worksheets for each of the things we would like to save for throughout the year. I use these worksheets to perform double-entry bookkeeping. Here is the full list of worksheets:

• Checking
• Savings
• Credit Card
• Television
• Internet
• Food & Gas
• Electricity
• Water
• Sewage
• Phones
• Trash
• Car Payment
• Mortgage Payment
• Life Insurance
• Car Insurance
• Plates and Tags
• Christmas Fund
• Birthday Fund
• Personal Allowances
• Slush Fund

Most of these accounts are self-explanatory, and the budget for each is fairly easy to gauge. We spend a set amount each month on television, internet, water, and sewage. Others are annual or semi-annual expense, such as insurance or plates and tags for our vehicles. The birthday and Christmas funds represent how much money we would like to spend for each of these events. Finally, the slush fund is just that, a pool of money for any unexpected, irregular, or one-time expenses.

So how does this double-entry bookkeeping work? I get paid twice a month, which means I get 24 paychecks in a year. Out of that paycheck I need to fund each of the accounts listed above such that, when the bill comes due, there is enough money in the account to pay the bill. Take the mortgage payment. Each time I receive a check, I initially enter the full amount in my checking account, but then I move those funds into the other worksheets to cover expenses. Let's say our mortgage payment is $800. That would mean that on each check I receive I need to 'transfer' $400 from the checking worksheet into the mortgage payment worksheet. On my second check of the month I transfer another $400 from checking to mortgage payment. Since it is the end of the month, my mortgage payment is due, so I transfer $800 from the mortgage payment worksheet back to the checking worksheet, and now I have enough money in checking to cover the check to my lender.

In doing this, I don't actually have a true account with a bank for each of these worksheets. In reality, all of the money from each of the worksheets just stays in checking. However, each time I am looking to spend money, I have to make a conscious decision to take money out of one fund in order to supply another. In this way, this budgeting system is proactive. If we want to go to a movie or I want to buy the latest gadget I have to take money out of a fund. If I want to buy a new gadget, but my personal allowance is depleted, I have to decide which other account I want to take money from to fund it. Do I spend less on food this month? Do I reduce the amount we'll be able to spend on birthday and Christmas gifts? It really forces me to consider how badly I need whatever it is I'm going to buy before going out and spending the money.

It would be very easy to ruin this system by simply putting everything on a credit card. A credit card is just another account, though. We treat spending on the credit card just like writing a check: we have to 'fund' the card prior to charging anything to it. If we go to the grocery store and spend $100 on groceries we transfer $100 from the food and gas budget to the credit card budget. This way, when the bill comes due at the end of the month for the credit card, we know that we can transfer the money from the credit card worksheet to the checking worksheet and have enough money to cover the bill.

I really like this system of budgeting. Knowing what budgets I'm taking from before I spend money is a huge advantage over trying to recover after the fact. There are some drawbacks. It is cumbersome to manage all of the worksheets. Money that sits in checking could be doing us a lot more good in a savings account earning at least a little interest. In my opinion, the benefits greatly outweigh the drawbacks. We no longer fear opening the credit card bill at the end of the month, or scramble to find money for birthday gifts. We know ahead of time that we will be able to cover our expenses, and can feel confident about affording a luxury expense when we decide we deserve one.

HP Mini 1000 Internal Microphone on WIndows 7

One of the only complaints I had about my HP Mini 1000 netbook when I purchased it was the lack of a dedicated microphone jack. The Mini has a combined headphone/microphone jack. You can plug in a set of headphones and get sound, or plug in a mic and record, but not both at once. I like to use Skype, ooVoo, Ventrillo, and other voice applications, and this seemed like an unnecessary limitation.

After loading up Windows 7 on my netbook, I was further disappointed to find that the default driver did not detect if you plugged in a mic or headphone, it just always worked as a headphone jack. This left me with no option for recording other than to use a plantronics USB headset that I had laying around. Taking up one of two USB ports for a headset was less than ideal.

Then I read on a forum that the Mini has an internal microphone. What's this? Hidden, undocumented equipment? Sure enough, half-way between the left edge of the screen and the webcam there is a pinhole microphone. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to enable. I did see it was listed in my recording devices, but I couldn't get it to pick up sound.

After a bit of searching, I found a link to a driver for the sound chip in the Mini 1000:

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp40501-41000/sp40662.exe

I believe this is the official vista driver for the sound chip. After downloading and installing I went to the recording devices menu and sure enough, it is picking up sound! Yeah! The only quirk is that it appears the labels for the recording devices are switched. The recording device marked as External Mic is picking up sound, while the recording device marked Integrated Microphone Array is not. I just switched the default device and now I can carry on Skype video calls without any problems.

The Hoosier Plate Debate

Here in Indiana, you have a few options when it comes to your license plate. Assuming you are driving a car (not a commercial vehicle, truck, motorcycle, RV, or some other vehicle which requires a different plate) you can choose among the plates shown below.







There is no difference in cost between these. By default, the license branch is supposed to offer the simple blue background plate first, and offer the other two as options upon request. If you would prefer, you may pay extra for a plate that benefits the organization of your choice, such as your favorite university, or perhaps Habitat for Humanity, with a portion of the extra fee given to the organization represented on the plate. Further, Indiana permits personalized license plates (PLPs) with some restrictions on what is allowed on the plate. I'm paraphrasing, but the essence of the restrictions are that the common man will not find your combination of seven letters and numbers offensive.

If you live in Indiana, you've probably seen these plates already, and you may remember that the "In God We Trust" plate got some attention when it debuted. The ACLU brought suit against the state, not for the content of the plate, but to contend that it should carry an extra fee. The ACLU lost the case, and the plate continues to be available to anyone who asks for it at no additional charge.

Now, a bit of trivia. Do you consider the phrase "In God We Trust" to be a religious message? If you said no, the Indiana and US courts would agree with you. You see, "In God We Trust" is the official motto of the United States, and as such, is not considered religious speech. Way back in 1782 the phrase E Pluribus Unum ("out of many, one") was chosen as the text to appear on the Great Seal of the United States. This became the de facto motto for our nation, although there was never any action taken to make it official. In 1956, the lack of an official national motto was apparently a major concern, so congress worked on a bill and President Eisenhower signed into law that "In God We Trust" would become our national motto. This wasn't the first use of the phrase in our government, as it had appeared on our coins and bills since the late 1800's.

That effectively kills any religious argument against the "In God We Trust" plate, but what about speech on PLPs? Should I be able to reserve a PLP with the text "LUVSGOD", "BE GODS", or "NO GODS"? That's exactly what Jason Borneman wants to know. Jason, an atheist, applied for a PLP with the text "NO GODS". His application was rejected on the grounds that it might be offensive, and he is pursuing this through an appeal. Some have suggested that a more positive message might have been accepted, such as "GODFREE" rather than the negative statement "NO GODS". What do you think? If a "BE GODS" PLP is allowed, should a "NO GODS" plate be allowed too?

UPDATE: Mr. Bourneman received notice from the BMV that his PLP application has now been approved, and he will receive his "NO GODS" plate in February.

Selling Out

I like Extra Life Radio, and listen to it as often as I can. Occassionally something comes up in the discussion that gets me thinking, and this week's episode did just that. The host, Scott Johnson, mentioned that one of the things that really irritates him is when he hears folks use the saying "oh, they totally sold out". He mentioned this in response to criticism of the recent Mt. Dew ads featuring a World of Warcraft tie in.

That got me thinking about the phrase. Scott's beef was that it didn't make sense. After all, Blizzard (Activision) is in the gaming industry not to create some love-in for RPG fans, but to make money. If working with Mt. Dew leads to more money, then that's good business.

Is it really though? I do agree that this term "Selling out" gets thrown around rather flippantly, but sometimes, it is spot on. Branding is incredibly important to some companies. Great care must be taken not to dilute that brand or associate the brand with things that do not synergize with the brand. For instance, you probably won't ever see a Rolex tie-in with McDonald's. McDonald's is all about convenience and being inexpensive, while Rolex is about luxury and prestige. If such a combination were to occur, it could be accurately described as "selling out the brand".

I do agree with Scott Johnson that the pairing of WoW with Mt. Dew does not diminish either brand, and thus the "selling out" comment is not relevant. On the other hand, I do believe it is important to listen to your consumer base, and to be cautious about how, where, and when your brand image is used.

When Does a Quarter Cost More than 25¢

I had an interesting experience at lunch yesterday. My coworkers and I often go out for lunch, and often to the same places. It was on one of these trips that I realized a quarter can be worth a lot more than 25¢ given the right circumstances. There were seven of us heading to the restaurant, so we took two cars. After being seated, we ordered drinks: five waters, a coke, and a diet coke. The waitress (we'll call her "Kay"), returned with the drinks and a scowl on her face. She put all seven drinks at the corner of the table, then unceremoniously dropped seven straws in the center of the table. Not a big deal, but usually a waiter/waitress will pass around drinks and straws individually rather than asking the guest to do it. We placed our food orders and waited for it to arrive...

...and waited and waited and waited some more. It was more than 30 minutes before our food arrived. That's killer on a workday lunch. In the meantime, the drinks at the table were getting low and the waitress was not interested in offering refills. In fact, in the entire time that we waited for food, we never saw our Kay.

Once we were all finished and our checks arrived, six people paid by credit card and I paid with cash. My bill was for $7.25 and I put a $10 bill on the table. Kay asked me if I wanted change, and I said yes. She said, "Are you sure you want change?" Ummm, YES! Firstly, service was bad already, and a $2.75 tip on a $7.25 meal would be a nearly 38% tip! This should have been my first clue that Kay wasn't a math wizard.

Kay returned with the receipts for all of the credit cards and pens...and no change for me. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and assumed she just needed to go back for it. Everyone at the table knew I needed change, so they waited....and waited and waited and waited. When it was clear that Kay wasn't going to give me my change, one of my coworkers called her over and I again asked for my change. With a heaving sigh Kay got her change purse out of her pocket and produced two ones and a quarter for me. Hmmm, not the right change for a $7.25 bill. Wanting the situation to be done and to just leave, I left the quarter on the table. I figured the 50¢ she had shorted me with the quarter was still better than a 10% tip, and definitely more than she deserved. We all returned to our cars to leave.

As we were buckling in, we see Kay come tearing out of the restaurant to the other car. We can't hear her, but we see she has a receipt and is talking emphatically with my coworkers in the other car. We assume someone forgot to sign their receipt and leave. When we get back to the office, one of the guys in the other car drops by my office and puts a quarter on my desk. He said Kay ran out to the car to let them know that we "forgot our quarter". The guys tried to explain to her that this was an adequate tip since she had already shorted me, but it wasn't getting through. Apparently she stomped off in a huff.

That was crossing a line for me. I can deal with bad service (I've lived in Maryland, home state of bad service at restaurants). Running out of the restaurant, harassing the wrong person, and being insolent due to your own ignorance is too much. I called the restaurant and let the manager know that, while we enjoyed their food, I needed an assurance that we would never deal with Kay again if we chose to return. The manager was profusely apologetic and assured me that Kay would not bother us again in his restaurant.

So here we have a case of a quarter being worth more than 25¢, it was worth Kay's job. I'm sure Kay probably hasn't learned any kind of lesson here. She's probably hating my guts for being a meany. Still, I do hope that at some point she is able to learn from this experience to know that you really have to pick your battles. When making that decision, make sure you've used good math.

Should Secretly Tracking Vehicles with GPS Require a Warrant?

There is a really interesting case in Wisconsin that got a write-up in the Chicago Tribune. In the case, the judge ruled that the police did not violate the suspect's 4th amendment privacy rights when they acquired a warrant for and placed a GPS tracking device on his vehicle. The defendent in this case was suspected of stalking a woman. The police received a warrant, although there is no law that requires that they do so, in order to place the tracker on the defendent's vehicle. It was retrieved a few weeks later and the data on the tracker used to get a warrant to search his home and vehicle for further evidence of stalking. He was later found guilty.

It's a sticky legal situation. In my opinion, the judge made the right decision in upholding that the use of the GPS device was legal and did not violate the defendent's rights in any way. The judge expanded on the decision to make it clear that, although the police did get a warrant in this situation, there was no law that made that effort necessary. The judge clearly called this out to get attention for the issue (congratulations, it was a resounding success) and for legistlators to consider a law that would require a warrant for such use of GPS. So what do you think? Do you agree with the ACLU that the police must receive a warrant in order to place a GPS tracking device on your vehicle?

The 4th amendment is a slippery devil. It is the amendment that guards against unreasonable search and seizure. The definition of what is unreasonable is pretty subjective though. It is currently codified for telephone tapping as, (paraphrasing) "If you have a reasonable expectation of privacy, the government must seek a warrant". This means that when you use your home phone from your home, you have a reasonable expectation that your conversation is private. As such, the police need a warrant to listen in on that conversation. However, if you are at the mall chatting with your friend, you have no reason to expect that conversation to be private. Anyone present could easily eavesdrop, and so the police are also permitted to eavesdrop in that situation. Applying the same idea to your vehicle, anytime you travel on a public roadway you have no reasonable expectation that the information about your position is private. Police have and exercise the ability to track you, and this is how people get speeding tickets, traffic violations, citations, or pulled over for an outstanding warrant for their arrest. What's more, anything observable from public grounds is also considered to have no expectation of privacy. So if the police stand in the middle of the road and watch you park your car in the garage, the location of your car is public knowledge (until we catch up to Star Trek with transporter tech anyway). The judge applied this reasoning to say that the information on the position of the defendent's vehicle never had a reasonable expectation to privacy. Given this, the judge ruled that placing a GPS tracker on the vehicle was no different than having an officer tail the vehicle at all times, as the position of the vehicle would always be publicly knowable anyway.

The judge was hoping to get a reaction with the inclusion of the note that the warrant the police received in this situation was not required, and boy did he. The ACLU is sounding the alarm that this is a "gateway drug" of sorts for the government which will inevitably lead to every man woman and child wearing a tracking chip from birth to death. I don't believe that, but I do think it is an interesting question as to whether a warrant should be required for all GPS tracking of vehicles. On the one hand, I don't relish the idea of my location (which is tightly coupled to the location of my vehicle) being public knowledge. Even though it would be possible for any interested party to track me day and night, they don't. As such, I have a relative expectation that my whereabouts are unknown to all except for those I give that information to. In fact, it would be a bit of a danger if my location was always public. If you could easily determine that I was, say, out of state, it might present an enticing opportunity for a burglar to break into my home. Worse yes, someone with violence in mind would know when I at home or at work.

On the other hand, I believe that the scenario cited in the case was a just use of surveilance. It was carefully applied (only the suspect was tracked) and it resulted in someone who really was dangerous being apprehended. I also think to another use of GPS that is used in high speed chases. The police fire a "GPS canon" at a vehicle in a high speed chase. The GPS unit sticks to the vehicle, and the police can then drop off the chase and monitor the vehicle remotely, and thus greatly lessen the danger to the general public. High speed chases are very dangerous, and when a criminal is running he is much more likely to drive dangerously when he feels he is being pursued rather than when not. If warrants were required, either the criminal would require pursuing, thus increasing the danger to the public, or he could contend that the use of the GPS tracker was illegal and thus he must be let free. Either scenario is unsavory.

So is a law necessary to govern the use of GPS tracking units by the police? If so, how should the law be framed? No matter which way you think, the fact that our legislators will be debating it means that it is going to cost you some of your taxes, so it is worth being interested in the answer. If no warrant is required, it might lead to greater use of this technology without the careful application shown by the Wisconsin police. If warrants are required it may create an environment more permissive for those with ill intentions for doing harm to others. Personally, I think that in most cases a warrant is probably in order, although special exceptions should be made to permit applying a tracker in chase situations or other intense situations where the use of the device could alleviate an immediate danger to the public. What about you?

HP Mini 1000 Upgrades

Own an HP Mini 1000, or looking to buy one, and want to know what parts can be upgraded?  I've been poking around to see what is available for this great little netbook, and here are some of the things I've found.

Memory

The Mini comes with either 512MB or 1GB of memory.  This is definitely the easiest part to upgrade.  The documentation seems to suggest that 1GB is the max for this device, but mine took a 2GB Kingston DDR2 chip without any complaints.

Hard Drive

The hard drive is a bit trickier.  You'll need to take the keyboard off to get access to it.  If you have a unit with a SSD, you'll also need to disconnect the recessed third USB port.  There is a good demonstration of how to do all of this here: http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2009/01/runcore-18-inch-ssd-on-hp-mini-1000.html

HP Mini Drive

If you purchased with the SSD option, you probably received a 2GB "HP Mini Drive".  This is actually just a Transcend JetFlash T3 with a small plastic piece to help it blend nicely with the body of the netbook.  You could either order a larger unit from HP, or you could get an original Transcend unit.  As of this writing HP is selling the 4GB for $24.99, while transcend has the same unit priced at $17.60.  Transcend also offers an 8GB drive for $32.30, which HP does not currently offer.

WWAN

There has been a lot of chatter lately about cellular carriers offering discounted netbooks on a 2-year data contract.  The HP Mini 1000 is poised to be a part of that offering.  If you ordered yours with the WWAN card built in, you are already set.  If not, you can still add one later.  This video from jkkmobile demonstrates how to add a WWAN module to your netbook.  Again, this involves taking off the keyboard and doing some pretty serious tinkering, so it isn't recommended for the faint of heart.

Battery

The stock 3-cell battery will net you anywhere from 1 to 3 of continuous use, depending on your power settings and what you are doing.  HP now offers a 6-cell replacement battery, available for order here.

External VGA

This one is a stickler.  That funky connector on the left of the unit is where you plug in a propietary VGA adapter cable.  Unfortunately, these are both in short supply and full of issues.   Users who have the cable are reporting that it refuses to output anything but 1024x768 regardless of what display is attached.  This is bad news for anyone hoping to connect to a projector.

I love my netbook and I am getting a lot of great use from it.  It is running Windows 7 RC1 like a champ, and I'm even able to do a little development in Visual Studio on it.  So far I have only upgraded the memory, but I'm tempted to upgrade the Transcend flash drive.  I'm holding off on a SSD upgrade until prices come down, but it is tempting as I currently only have about 1.5GB of free space on the main drive.  Even with a relatively "stock" configuration, I find this unit to be a very nice, performant, and portable computing platform.