] Of the several options available for iPod use in the car,
] the cassette adapter is the most favorable. The cassette
] adapter will allow you to listen to your music without
] interference with the added plus of not requiring
] batteries. While portable FM transmitters have improved
] recently, success with them is still questionable. For
] every one person that is able to get the FM transmitter
] working well in their car, there is at least one person
] who received very poor results using the Transmitter.

I have to agree with this. I tried to use an FM transmitter with my iPod, and the results have been very poor. Since I live in a metropolitan area (St. Louis), I'm constantly having to tweak the frequency to find a station that isn't being used. And even then the signal is prone to static, like getting those weird "buzzing" sounds when driving past an electricity pole.

Furthermore, even when the signal is clean, the sound quality isn't that good. High frequencies are truncated, leaving a sense that the music is "muffled." I do *not* consider myself a fussy audiophile, but even with my lowered expectations, the sound quality is just plain bad. Which is even more annoying considering the high price of the transmitter ($60).

I'm returning my transmitter to the store today, and switching to a cassette adapter.

Connecting iPod to car stereo

I just won an iPod mini at a Christmas party (participating in a party-wide trivia contest).

I've surfed the web a bit looking at iPod hoopla, but this is my first time actually playing with one. Anyone here have recommendations on the "must have" accessories?

Apple - iPod mini

Normally this is on the efga.org site, but that domain appears to be having problems, so the schedule is up on the aprr.org site instead this year.

DragonCon: Electronic Frontiers Forums: 2004 Program Schedule

] "Twelve years ago, a unique gathering of hackers, law
] enforcement, lawyers, civil libertarians, and journalists
] was born. That subversive gathering has evolved into a
] subversive institution," said Dark Tangent, founder of
] DEFCON. "People that were considered threats when we
] started are now considered assets protecting critical
] infrastructure worldwide. I'm very pleased at DEFCON's
] evolution and am excited to have what I consider the best
] selection and quantity of speakers ever assembled at an
] event of its kind."
]
] This year's event will debut more new technical material
] than ever before. Significant exploits will be revealed,
] new freeware releases will be demonstrated, and new
] research will be presented.

This is an article from a German site that's promoting Def Con. Again, my Kryptos talk is listed as one of the more interesting talks, which still has me jazzed and flattered. ;) I also completely agree with the top-billed talk, "Quantum Hacking", by Richard Thieme. He's an *amazing* speaker, and I'm very much looking forward to his talk.

IT-SecCity - DEFCON: One-Hundred Leading Hackers to Present New Material to Their Peers

] Among the former communist countries set to join the
] European Union on 1 May, Estonia is the smallest, but the
] most technologically advanced.

I'll vouch for this. On orkut, Estonia is now one of the top 10 countries participating, as viewed in the "Demographics" tab:

U.S. ............... 45.2%
Brazil ............ 12.49%
Japan ............. 6.15%
Netherlands .... 3.68%
U.K. ................ 3.39%
Canada .......... 3.06%
India ............... 2.47%
Germany ........ 2.27%
Spain ............. 1.84%
Estonia ........... 1.81%

Orkut is also *huge* in Brazil right now. Their "hot or not" community (Como o Nao Como) is one of the most active on the entire service.

Tiny Estonia leads internet revolution

] SmarterChild, for those not in the know, is America
] Online's artificial intelligence program. That's right -
] an AOL IM AI.

The IM-bot SmarterChild disappeared for awhile, but seems to be back now. I find it enormously useful, since it's a quick way to get word definitions, find out what movies are playing, check the weather in a city that I'm traveling to, look up an encyclopedia entry, check a stock quote, etc. etc., all in plain english queries, "What's the weather forecast for Butte, MT?" "What time is Hidalgo playing?" or "What time is Hidalgo playing at the St. Charles 18?"

Or, when I'm really bored (or just want to procrastinate), it's fun testing the limits of its conversational ability, like to ask it about its parents (which it does indeed respond to).

If you haven't checked this out this bot yet, I recommend it. Just open an IM window and send a message (any message, even just "hi!") to "SmarterChild", and watch the time-wasting begin. :)

Observational Humor - Conversations with SmarterChild

] An International website featuring up to date Internet
] Usage Statistics and 2004 Population Data for over 233
] countries and regions of the world.
 . . .
] A useful resource for international market research,
] containing Internet statistics, broadband penetration,
] world population data and global trade information.

Fascinating data.

They do have some interesting definitions of what counts as "Europe" which (IMHO) doesn't quite match up with geography. For example, Russia is listed as being part of Europe, though Turkey is not.

Not counting continental divides though, this is some great information!

Internet Usage World Stats

] 179 Swap the echo messages in the first example:
 . . .
] [Thanks to Elonka Dunin]

Cool, I got credit from the authors for reporting an error in Unix Shell Programming, 3rd ed. :)

'UNIX Shell Programming' by Kochan & Wood: Errata

I'm recommending this software, Spybot Search & Destroy, as a good utility to scan for spy software that may have infiltrated a system.

When I'm playing the role of free tech-support for friends and family, and I'm helping them clean or secure their systems, these are the items I recommend:

#1: Get an anti-virus program. Particularly Norton, McAfee, or AVG at grisoft.com
#2: Get a firewall, such as ZoneAlarm from www.zonelabs.com
#3: Get Ad-Aware, a free utility from lavasoftusa.com
#4: Get a spy-checker program, such as this SpyBot one, or PestPatrol
#5: Keep their Operating System updated, such as by using the "Windows Update" option in the Tools menu of Internet Explorer.

After the above 5, it's mostly a case of training, such as to remind them *don't* run executables that have been sent to them in email, and if they do have ZoneAlarm, *don't* click yes to give access to a program, if they're not already damn sure what that program is!

Spybot S&D

] Technology has paid off handsomely for porn sites in the
] USA. Led by sites like Danni's Hard Drive and Cybererotica,
] they generated $2 billion in revenue last year, up 10% to 15%
] from 2002, says Adult Video News, a trade magazine. That's
] about 10% of the overall domestic porn market. The number of
] porn sites has vaulted eighteenfold, to 1.3 million, since
] 1998, says the National Research Council.
] ...
] "Technology turned trash into cash," Harris says. "That's a
] lesson other industries can learn."

There are so many different reports on the size of the porn industry, I'm still not sure what to believe. If anyone's interested, here's a meme from a few weeks ago about the Forbes report:

http://www.memestreams.net/thread/bid11157/

RE: Online porn often leads high-tech way