Two large ships sink every week ...

Freak waves the real monsters of the sea - Environment - www.smh.com.au

Two large ships sink every week, on average, but the cause is never studied in the same detail as an air crash. It simply gets put down to 'bad weather'.

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This article also mentions 3 cruise ships, including the QE2, running into @ 30 meter waves over the past 8 years. With a bit less luck any of them could have gone down.

For years these giant waves were thought to be wild imaginings of drunken sailors. A recent satellite study shows they show up every few months. They can sink most ships.

I wonder how safe sailing ships are? I suspect they're far more dangerous than airplanes ...

Choosing a WEP Password

MacInTouch Home Page, quoting Apple KB: "Choosing and using a WEP password can been a challenge, because WEP is an older security protocol that was developed before members of the Wi-Fi Alliance had agreed on a uniform way to treat passwords. The result is that a WEP password may not work for all computers in a multiplatform environment. However, this is the easy trick you can use to make a WEP password work for everybody on your network:

For a 40 bit WEP network, always choose a 5-character password.

For a 128 bit WEP network, always choose a 13-character password."

Apple's support site (self-service) page as of 7/23/04

Apache Tomcat/4.1.30 - Error report

HTTP Status 404 - /wss/WssAuth

type Status report

message /wss/WssAuth

description The requested resource (/wss/WssAuth) is not available.
Apache Tomcat/4.1.30>

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Meanwhile, entering http://selfservice.apple.com yields this page:

"If you're seeing this page via a web browser, it means you've setup Tomcat successfully. Congratulations!"

Yesterday when I tried their service page I got their internal HR support logon page. (Seibel I think.)

When I phoned last week about my (4th) defective iPod, I was told they were upgrading their support systems to new software. Clearly there have been a few glitches.

Maybe a LOT of glitches!

AirPort Express: toy of the month

MacInTouch Posting by Kevin Klein

[Kevin Klein] First impressions: Wow, Wow, Wow. This new Apple accessory is ridiculously cool and I am really blown away with the new features I am now able to bring to my home network and stereos with the Airport Express.

 It integrates seamlessly with iTunes 4.6 by adding a "speaker output selection pop-up" in the bottom right of the main browser window. It took me a while to find it, but this was by far the hardest part of the installation. Now my output choices are "Computer" and "Home Main Stereo System" (you can choose the name of each Express as it appears in iTunes). When I add more Airport Expresses later, I'll have more choices from this pop-up menu to choose from
 
One other note, the Mac does not control the volume the Airport Express passes the stereo it's connected to.
 
In addition to the usual security options (WEP, WPA, etc), I can also password protect each Express for AirTunes access too (using the included Admin Tool). This will can help limit AirTunes availability in more robust, less private environments other than my home (like businesses, coffee shops, hot spots, etc.). I can envision an Airport Express even working as the source for "on hold" music for business phones systems.
 
Now what about my older, legacy Airport Extreme Base Station?
 
I chose to setup WDS using the Airport Express as the main WAP and relocate my older Extreme BS to my second floor home office and set it up as the remote WAP for my home network. I used same network name for both and now have a perfect, full-coverage WiFi network for my entire home (including my rooftop deck and backyard).
 
Another cool thing is with WDS and multiple Expresses/Base Stations, I can have multiple USB printers available via Rendezvous concurrently. Now I can print to my USB Brother Fax machine or my USB Epson 880 without any other computers sharing these USB printer connections and making them available by bridging over wireless or Ethernet.
 
The Airport Express is small and therefore highly portable and it can save up to five (5) LAN/WAN configurations to help accommodate its portability. If you have one that moves around a lot (it is, after all, the size of an iBook power adapter and can fit in your front pocket), you can save multiple configurations for common destinations like your car, your office, your summer home, your house and your best friends house, etc.).
 
Because it's very portable and I am sure that the one I have permanently connection to my home Cable Modem/Home Stereo will not be enough for me.
 
Although I have not yet tested it with XP, If it works as well with Windows (as advertised) this will be the must-have gadget of the upcoming year.

Ok, I'm sold. I may just buy one. One thing I've heard is you can't listed to both local speakers from the iTunes host and distal speakers from the AirPort Express -- a time delay puts the music out of sync.

Blogger fixing Firefox Mess

Quick Notes Blog: July 2004

Blogger redid their interface. They trashed Safari and Firefox immediately (who do they work for again?).

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As of today Safari is no worse than it was (but no better). Firefox 0.91/Mac is looking reasonably good, though font are a bit off when posting.

Firefox 0.91 feels slooooowww on my iBook. Just teething issues I hope ...

Korea -- land of the future ....

Samsung SPH-2300: 3 Megapixel Cameraphone

The future is now. Unfortunately, the future is now in Korea, a land filled with a fine people and such, don't get me wrong, but a land that is also, clearly, not right here in my apartment. So with Samsung's introduction of a new 3-megapixel cameraphone, the SPH-2300, we Westerners have all been apparently flung backwards into the past, which is cool from a 'countdown to death' perspective, but otherwise, you know, I'd rather just have my 3-megapixel cameraphone -- especially one with optical zoom, miniSD slot, and built-in flash.

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Japan used to be the land of tomorrow, now it's Korea. Given my robust personal connections to Korea, I feel a certain (adoptive) filial pride here.

Google for airport conditions...

Google Web Search Features: "To see delays and weather conditions at a particular airport, type the airport's three letter code followed by the word 'airport.' For example, San Francisco International Airport updates can be found by searching for 'sfo airport.'"