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The Cable Company, the Phone Company, the Power Company, Oh My!
Those looking for high-speed Internet access (broadband) generally have a couple of options. You can sign up to receive broadband from your cable company or your local phone company (and, yes, there are satellite options and free wireless in some communities). Another player is emerging, and that's your local electric power company. Granted, just as with DSL and cable, there are technical issues (signal loss over distance, interference in the ham radio spectrum, necessary equipment), and there needs to be a financial incentive (i.e., it will make money for the utilities). An added incentive for the power companies is that such technology can be used to quickly identify power outages, read meters remotely, and conduct preventive maintenance (by watching how the signal is degraded, possibly pointing to imminent equipment failure). It's called BPL (Broadband over Power Lines), and it is growing from small, isolated trials to a more general population. 50,000 homes in Cincinnati (OH) have signed up, and Manassas (VA) (pop 37,000) runs its own BPL service.
LoJack for Laptops
Its real name is CompuTrace, and it's a product of Absolute Software (www.absolute.com). According to Safeware (an insurance agency), a laptop is stolen every 53 seconds. As with LoJack for vehicles, Absolute works with local law enforcement to assist in the recovery of your laptop. The CompuTrace product comes in several flavors. It is a subscription service (starts at $49.99/yr for the base version), can be purchased over the Internet or at CompuUSA stores (LoJack for Laptops version only), and is a software client that resides on the laptop's hard drive. The files and folders are hidden, and the company claims that their software will survive a reformat, repartitioning, and use of f-disk. The system periodically contacts their Monitoring Service whenever it is connected to the Internet (once a day if broadband, every 4 days if dialup). When stolen, you first file a police report, and then contact Absolute with the police report information via Internet or phone. Next time the computer checks in, it's placed on high alert status and then starts contacting the Monitoring Server every 15 minutes. It can even program the internal modem, when connected to a phone line, to automatically and silently call their Monitoring Server via a toll-free number. With the corporate version (suggested for those wishing to protect 10 or more laptops, or those wanting greater protection and features), you also get, in addition to other corporate-level stuff like asset management, a data delete function (additional fee when activated), and a $1,000 per laptop guarantee that your laptop will be recovered within 60 days. Be advised that LoJack for Laptops only works under Windows XP, and that the corporate versions, which can also protect desktop computers, works under more operating systems, including Macintosh. See their website for more details.
Daylight Savings Time Changes
The recent Energy Bill signed into law changes U.S. Daylight Savings Time to three weeks earlier and one week later, starting in 2007, the first change in over two decades. I know it's early, but I'm giving you a heads-up now. With so much of our lives tied to clocks and calendars (computers, VCRs, DVD recorders, cell phones, alarm systems, billing systems, and so on), it may seem like a mini Y2K all over again. But let me leave you with this thought: At least it's only an hour, and not 99 years.
Bill Hopkins
is the Webmaster of PhotoSourceFolio* (www.photosourcefolio.com) and a regular contributor to PhotoStockNotes. Send comments via e-mail to wh@photosourcefolio.com. Fax: 1 818 831-0916. For on-line questions, contact Bill on the Kracker Barrel at www.photosource.com/board.
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