The Maxson Homepage on the WWW
What I think about technology, links to interesting articles about technology, or anything else remotely related to technology.
In an update to this post (where I talk about being unable to get my google calendar notifications to go to my google voice number) ….
Today, I was able to successfully set up my Google Calendar to use my Google Voice number for notifications. Try it out for yourself.
Image from malabooboo via flickr
Turns out you may want to reconsider. It turns out that the “official” kilogram is either gaining or loosing weight (they aren’t sure). Makes you wish the good ‘ole pound wasn’t redefined , doesn’t it?? The solutions? redefine it–the kilogram–as a certain number of atoms of some material? Wow….
I knew there was a reason I didn’t like the metric system….. If you need/want an easy metric -> imperial or imperial -> metric cheat cheet, look here.
Image from Kirikiri via flickr
Bruce Schneier makes a good point in this article on Movie Plot Threats:
I wonder why he thinks that “schools, churches and government or medical facilities” are terrorist targets worth protecting, and movie theaters, stadiums, concert halls, restaurants, train stations, shopping malls, Toys-R-Us stores on the day after Thanksgiving, train stations, and theme parks are not. After all, “there’s got to be some common sense.”
…
Yes, and the same technology that allows people to call their friends can be used by terrorists to choose targets and plan attacks. And the same technology that allows people to commute to work can be used by terrorists to plan and execute attacks. And the same technology that allows you to read this blog post…repeat until tired.
Surfing today, I came across a page written by a guy documenting his making his own electric car out of a VW Passat. It sounds like a neat project. You should check it out.
BTW, the picture is posted on my flickr page…but I took it from his site. I didn’t want to hot-link to it. Hopefully he’s ok with that (I credited him on the flickr page too).
I’ve blogged before about Truphone, what I did before coming overseas, what I wish I had known before coming overseas, and then some issues I had had.
Inspite of that, I’ve really grown to like Truphone. Just having it while we were in Rome to use to call was AWESOME. It is a great service. I’m actually thinking about getting Cyndi a phone that it will work on….perhaps then we can dump vonage. But…who knows.
Anyway, when I read about things like this, this, this, and this on the Truphone Blog, I get agrivated. I’m sure they have a real good reason for what they are doing (probabaly a bajillion people have it installed on their iPhones)…I just wish they could get skype functionality on the nokia. I don’t think it has anything to do with the client…probabaly a more back-end change (especially since Gizmo is offering a SIP to Skype bridge now).
Regardless, I’ll keep using Truphone…I think it is the best VoIP Service out there. I just wish they could keep the client functionality in sync a bit more.
Image from VoIPMan via Flickr
I haven’t written too much about life here in Serbia recently…so, since I ended up with some extra time on May Day, I decided I’d write about our Internet.
When we first moved in, we had cable internet. We were paying about $25/month for 512 kb/s (yep…kilobits per second). Much much slower than what we were getting in the US before we left. A few months ago, I went to pay our bill (we have to go to the office every month and remember to pay our bill…we don’t get a bill in the mail), the lady asked me a question.
After going back and forth, I figured out that their rates and speeds had changed. I could now purchase 1024 kb/s (kilobits per second) service for 1,700 dinars per month. With the change in the exchange rate, this works out to about the same we were paying before. Not too bad.
Traditionally, I have used DSLReports’ speed tester; however, today, I came across a new one. I thought I’d give them a try and see what happened. The results are below:
Don’t know the difference between a byte and a bit? Don’t know the difference between kb/s and kB/sec? Here’s a good resource for you (here’s another too). But, remember that a byte is 8 bits….so a byte is 8 times larger than a bit.
This article poses an interesting question: what exactly are those people who manage that mailing list you are on doing with your password?
Given that I’m all for encryption, this article makes this look like interesting technology. By the way (and so I can search for it later) the company is called cellcrypt.
