Hands-on with T-Mobile HotSpot @Home - Engadget Mobile

Hands-on with T-Mobile HotSpot @Home - Engadget Mobile:

GSM / WiFi handoff is a brilliant idea in theory -- but to be usable, it's gotta be seamless, unnoticeable, and virtually effortless for the user. So far, the national carriers have failed to deliver any solution -- let alone a usable one -- so how does T-Mobile stack up? The Phone Fairy recently dropped off a Nokia 6086 and Linksys WRT56G-TM router to have a go with T-Mobile's just-announced HotSpot @Home service, and our initial impressions are fairly positive. In brief: setup was a snap, the phone's basic but well-designed, GSM / WiFi handoffs were hit or miss, and for ten bones a month, it seems like a square deal. Read on for more, and don't forget to peep the gallery!

Kitten Cannon

Kitten Cannon kinda like penguin baseball

2WG - Garment Bag for Biking to Work

Two Wheel Gear - Home

The Garment Bag for Biking to Work

Our bicycle commuter pannier was developed to simplify getting your clothes, accessories, and papers to and from work. Our bike commuter pannier was designed by cyclists for cyclists. We use it (and abuse it). We guarantee that our Commuter Pannier will simplify bicycle commuting.

Safe Turn Bicycle Indicator Light - Buy One Get One free

Safe Turn Bicycle Indicator Light - Bike Turn Signal: http://safeturn.com/ppolnews.html

Special Offer: "Two for One"

for the readers of PPOL: News

Buy 1 Indicator and receive 1 FREE Buy 2 and receive 2 FREE, buy 3 and receive 3 FREE etc. Limited time only - When you order, the final page is checkout / order form - Go to the Details field and type PPOLNEWS You pay for what you order, as seen on the checkout screen. We will send you the extra Indicators free of charge.

The Safe Turn Indicator is a new Australian invention (patent pending). It is a small, portable, automatic bicycle light indicator that easily clips to the wristband that is provided or to your own glove.

Unlike other bicycle indicators, the Safe Turn Indicator does not require any special action from the cyclist. When your hand is raised to indicate a turn, the internal tilt switch detects the change in the position and the orange light starts to blink.

Retail Price: $19.95 AUD (approx $15.50 USD)

The Safe Turn Indicator offers the following advantages:

Diameter 40mm or 1.6 inches Weight 19 grams or 0.67 oz.

You do not have to learn to use the device, as its use can be combined with your normal hand signals, To accommodate for your individual preferences, the base can be adjusted at 15 degree intervals to allow the tilt switch to function at any angle, Containing 3 LEDs, the indicator is extremely visible and it flashes in a similar fashion as a vehicle/motorbike indicator does, The Indicator is portable, lightweight and has low energy consumption, The Indicator will keep blinking as long as your hand is raised, and The Indicator promotes safe cycling.

Tomato Firmware for Linksys WRT54G / WRT54GS / WRT54G.*

Tomato Firmware | polarcloud.com: "Tomato is a small, lean and simple replacement firmware for Linksys' WRT54G/GL/GS, Buffalo WHR-G54S/WHR-HP-G54 and other Broadcom-based routers. It features a new easy to use GUI, a new bandwidth usage monitor, more advanced QOS and access restrictions, enables new wireless features such as WDS and wireless client modes, raises the limits on maximum connections for P2P, allows you to run your custom scripts or telnet/ssh in and do all sorts of things like re-program the SES/AOSS button, adds wireless site survey to see your wifi neighbors, and more. "

Tip of the Trade: Voyage Linux

Tip of the Trade: Voyage Linux: "The tiny Linux category is filled with excellent, stripped-down specialized Linuxes for all occasions, from desktops to servers to routers to Internet kiosks, and everything else you can think of. They run on embedded devices, router boards, commercial wireless routers (like the Linksys WRT54G series), PCs, blades, USB sticks, CDs and the sleek new IDE flash solid-state drives."

WiFi Paint Security

http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/03/24/new-paint-offers-wireless-protection/

"Assuming" this paint works, wouldn't it have to cover every square inch of surface?  That's okay if you work in a dungeon but what if you are in a regular office that has windows?  Or have the TV boardroom with floor to ceiling glass windows?  Would you need to put in a painted revolving door to ensure any of those sneaky wifi signals don't get out when someone opens a door to the outside?

Forget WEP and WPA; I'm switching over to the EM-SEC Coating System, a recently revealed paint developed by EM-SEC Technologies that acts as an electromagnetic fortress, allowing a wireless network to be contained within painted walls without fear of someone tapping in or hacking wireless networks.

The EM-SEC Coating System is clearly the most secure option aside from stringing out the CAT5, and can be safely used to protect wireless networks in business and government facilities.

offline google reader with gears

http://gears.google.com/

http://www.google.com/reader

Google gears provides offline web application functionality.  I just found out that it support google reader, so you can read your rss feeds in reader offline.

Install gears and then sign of for reader if you haven't already.

In the top bar, there will be a new icon next to your email address.  the green download arrow will sync your offline store and then change to a blue up arrow when it is complete.   You'll now be in offline mode.  click the blue arrow to have your feeds updating live again.

update: Official Google Blog: Feeds on a plane!

Stupid user tricks: Eleven IT horror stories

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=43856&PageMem=2

Security silliness
Security should be everyone's job, from CTO to administrative assistant. It's surprising how few organizations recognize this.
I think back to a time right after a fairly large network upgrade. All weekend, day and night, had been spent migrating a nightmare network from a hodgepodge of Windows 95/98/ME and even OS/2 clients with NetWare and Windows NT servers to a clean, homogenous utopia of redundant Windows 2000 Servers on the back and Windows XP Professional desktops on the front. Things hadn't gone quite as smoothly as we'd hoped, so instead of finishing up on Sunday afternoon, we were still putting final tweaks in place on Monday morning.
After we did our last test (making sure all local tape backups were working properly) it was about noon. (Most users by now had logged in, been informed that they needed to choose a new password in accordance with our medium-strong password guidelines, and had chosen a new password.) I stumbled bleary-eyed into the lunchroom for my umpteenth caffeine fix. Chugging my Coke, I almost missed it while mincing out of the lunchroom. But it grabbed my attention from the corner of my eye and caused Coca-Cola to shoot from my schnoz like some enraged soda dragon.
“Password List.” Yes, every user's new password along with IT and even some specific switch passwords had been printed out by a well-meaning secretary and posted in the lunchroom. After they pried my hands from her throat, she explained that she just figured it'd be easier to post them there than to answer all the phone calls when users inevitably forgot them. So she went around and collected them (in my name), built her list, and posted it.
Solution:  User training. Passwords should not be regarded as obstacles but as keys for very important locks. Users must be made aware of such concepts, not simply dropped into new environments. If the secretary had been given a clue, she never would have done it, but the only training this company ever gave her was how to use Word.
Moral:  Preaching may be a pain, but it can sure stop a lot of FUBAR stupidity before it gets very far.

Ultimate weirdness
This one won our Deepest Chuckle Award. Dave Schultz related an incident in which he tagged a note to a network laser printer informing users that if print quality suffered enough to warrant a toner cartridge replacement, they should first “shake a few times to yield a few additional copies.”
Schultz was later berated because a user suffered a work-related back injury by reading the note, then picking up the entire HP LaserJet 4000 and trying to shake the printer back and forth.
Solution: Shoot the user, he's lame now, anyway.
Moral: Never let your blood pressure get too far into the dangerous numbers and keep a bottle of Advil handy.

The Beerbelly and Winerack

 

The Beerbelly

A removable spare tire that also serves a stealth beverage. So now you can not only sport the look that’s legit to the touch (and the frisk), but you can also enjoy a tasty beverage wherever you want, whenever you want! You can even customize your belly.

The Winerack

Now you can turn an A cup in to double Ds AND sport your favorite beverage for yourself and your friends! We get it that some chicks just don’t want that pregnant look that comes with The Beerbelly. We developed The Winerack to “Fill Out” our product line if you will. The picture shown here is of our good friend Sue, who is not, no offense Sue, Well Endowed. Strap on the Winerack and Voila’ Sue’s giving Pamela Anderson a run for the money.