Operation Gadget
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TidBITS Publishes an Excellent Article on Wireless Security Need Assessment
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTidBITS recently published an article by Adam Engst, the co-author of The Wireless Networking Starter Kit about assessing the need for security on your home wireless network…. This is a thoughtfully written article that’s worth passing along to people who just plugged in their WiFi router, configured it, and forgot about…
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Cingular Delivering Account Info via SMS
Reading Time: < 1 minuteEarlier this week, Cingular rolled out Star Services, a simple mechanism to allow its customers to get account information sent to them via SMS. With Star Services, Cingular customers can check their: account balance by dialing *BAL# and minutes used by dialing *MIN#. They can also make one time account payments…
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Verizon Wireless Reportedly Will Make the Treo 600 Available on its Network
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTreoCentral.com has the best screenshot from verizonwireless.com saying: Coming Soon: Treo™ 600 Smartphone But, by the time I got to http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/index.jsp, that link was gone. Treo rumor sites: should we believe you this time? After all, the Treo 610 still hasn’t happened. Update: I did a little further research and found…
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Finally Working with Wireless Network at the Home Office
Reading Time: < 1 minuteMost Operation Gadget readers probably forgot the thread I started about setting up a wireless network in my home office. I received my router and WiFi card way back in mid-January. Today, D-Link sent me the $40 rebate that they promised when I bought the D-Link DI-624 AirPlus Xtreme G Wireless…
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Stopped Evaluation of Life Balance, At Least for the Moment
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I was going to evaluate the Palm OS application called Life Balance from Llamagraphics. I never really got into it, initially because of the work required to rebuild my laptop after the hard disk died. Since I got it running again under Fedora…
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Consumer Union Asks the FCC to Outlaw the Practice of Mobile Phone Handset Locking
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe Consumers Union began a campaign to convince the Federal Communications Commission to ban the placement of software locks on mobile phones. The CU launched a web site called www.EscapeCellHell.org to collect petitions from mobile phone customers in order to forward them to the FCC. Janee Briesemeister, director of EscapeCellHell.org for…
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Forbes Columnist Says It’s Time to Trash Your VCR
Reading Time: < 1 minuteStephen Manes writes the Digital Tools column for Forbes Magazine. In the April 19 issue he strongly suggests that it’s time to trade in VCRs for DVD recorders. Manes says: A dusty shelf of home videotapes of your child’s early years sparks an idea: If you transferred them to DVD, you…
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“Linux for Non-Geeks” Recommended by Mr. Roboto
Reading Time: < 1 minuteMartin O’Donnell has been getting a first-hand account of my foray into Fedora and has suggested that he too would like to break away from Microsoft Windows. I’ve warned him, repeatedly, that it’s not for everyone and may not be most people for a while yet. In my travels today, I…
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Dell Cuts Dell DJ Prices
Reading Time: < 1 minuteMartin O’Donnell points out a CNET News.com report that Dell has cut prices on its Dell DJ line of digital audio players by up to $50. The 15-Gigabyte model is now priced at $199, down from $249. The 20-Gigabyte model is reduced to $279, but a temporary rebate brings the price…