The Rigged-Up Net

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Sys Admin delivers information for systems and network administrators. Every month you’ll get all the information you need to handle the daily challenges of systems administration efficiently and effectively. You’ll find ways to improve the performance or extend the capabilities of your system. Whether administration is your full-time job, or it is just one of the many hats you find yourself wearing, Sys Admin can help.

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This is really cool – Its free… now you can finally recommend a solution for your friends for hosting their email for their own domain names…

20 accounts per domain, 250megs of storage per account…

Its basically Hotmail but instead of having “[email protected]” you can get “[email protected]” and use all of the normal hotmail features like spam filtering, web access… even syncing to Outlook.

Bitch’n!

Windows Live Email Service

Woah, you gotta see this…

Venezuelan tattoo maker Constantino, with a glass piercing in the ear, offers his service outside the venue of the annual World Social Forum in Caracas

Venezuelan tattoo maker Constantino

I admit it, I have a bit of a fascination with the Rubik’s Cube.

Growing up, the best I could complete was two adjacent sides… then I’d just get frustrated and dis-assemble the whole thing, and just put it back together the correct way… which I felt was a far-superior way of solving it than moving the stickers around (like my cousin did). 😀

Here’s a short video clip of this year Rubik’s Cube Competition.

Video: A puzzle gone wild

My favorite part is the blind-folded competition… insanely cool. 🙂

It turns out that all the YouTube acquisition rumors… are just all that… rumors.

On the other hand, it was exiciting to think that someone could have bought YouTube after only being alive for 11 months (founded in Feb. ’05)… oh well. 🙂

YouTube Acquisition Rumors

This is amazing… FOUR gigs on a high-speed SD card, and its only 200 bucks! And its not vapor-ware! You can buy it today! Incredible!

Surplus Computers has the A-Data 4GB 150x Turbo Secure Digital Card for $200 with free shipping.

A-Data 4GB 150x Turbo Secure Digital Card $200

Ya know, I kinda wanna own a Mac… but I’m attached to Windows… I know, I know – “MacOS is better – yadda, yadda…”

Anyhow, the question was – can one run Windows on the new Intel-based Macs?

With the announcement of the Intel chip based Macbook, the door is now open for running the Windows OS on Macintosh hardware, right? jaypatrick writes “BetaNews reports that along with the announcement of the first Intel based Macs yesterday, many users have rejoiced in being able to dual-boot both Mac OS X and Windows. Unfortunately, this is not the case; due to Apple’s use of the extensible firmware interface (EFI) rather than BIOS, current Windows releases will not run on the systems.” I guess not. But, wait… Big Z writes “Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice-president of worldwide product marketing, said in an interview Tuesday that the company won’t sell or support Windows itself, but also hasn’t done anything to preclude people from loading Windows onto the machines themselves.” I think someone actually trying it out is the only way this is going to get straightened out.

Windows on Intel Macs – Yes or No?

Wow, sounds like everyone’s better off just sleeping-in than trying to rush into the office if you’re still a little groggy…

If it takes a while to clear the cobwebs after waking up, that’s understandable — “sleep inertia” leaves some people so groggy they might as well be drunk, researchers said on Tuesday.

Study: Waking up like being drunk

Its not often when Google gets beat by someone…

… Hitwise has crunched the traffic data, and YouTube indeed overtook Google Video in market share, shooting up 83% in one week …

Guess I Was Onto Something

And if you haven’t seen the “Lazy Sunday” Saturday Night Live sketch you can view it below… its pretty funny – DOUBLE TRUE!

SNL – The Chronic of Narnia Rap

Easy Ubuntu is cool, but this is just as useful:

This is a graphical interface for installation of a lot of apps on UBUNTU BREEZY and for tweaking a few things to get your Ubuntu box up and working in full throttle in the quickest possible timespan.

Automatix (Automated GUI installation script)

This is great – I’ve already used it four times in the past week:

Unlocker overrides those annoying Error Deleting File or Folder messages. When you want to delete a file and Windows won’t let you, use Unlocker to free the file from system processes holding it hostage. Unlocker will delete stubborn files, free files from a captive process or kill process that won’t let go using normal means in the Windows Task Manager.

Unlocker

Yes, the rumors are right. I’m not longer at Rackspace.

The reasons behind this are very complicated – so if you really want to hear about it all, just talk to me (like so many of you already have.)

The flip side is that I’m looking forward to doing something new… so if you have any ideas, please let me know – you know how to find me. 😉

For all you physics geeks out there… 🙂

These pages explain quantum entanglement by way of colourful pictures, helpful analogies, and absolutely no math.

Quantum Entanglement

Ok guys… the newest WRT54G v5.0 does not run linux… and you can’t run linux on it. So if you plan on getting one, you’d better go pick one up now and hope you can find a v3.0 or older on the store shelves.

However, you can still pick up the WRT54GS units, which still run linux (for now)… which is probably the better one to own since it has twice the memory and flash available for hacking.

There is also a rumor of a WRT54GL coming out, where the L denotes Linux… which may solve the problem of getting them in the future – we’ll see.

Clearing Up the Confusion: No More Linux on the WRT54G?

AT&T Inc. and Cingular Wireless introduced a trial initiative in Connecticut that will give family members the ability to make unlimited calls from their mobile phone to home phone.

AT&T, Cingular unroll unlimited mobile-to-home phone calling plan

Here’s a crash course in your choices for Ethernet connectivity–what are hubs, routers and switches, and when should you use which?

Ethernet Hubs vs. Switches

Intresting Reads:

• Study: Austin is Texas’ most literate city
• San Antonio rates poorly in national survey of literate U.S. cities
• Study: Houston places low in literate cities ranking

This is the best thing I’ve seen in a long time… Everyone knows that I have to reboot my Treo all the time becuase its a piece of shit. And its really annoying, since you have to take off the battery cover to get to the reset botton… but check this out — Seidio Battery Cover with reset hole! How awesome is that?!

If the phrase “if I had a nickel for every time I had to reset the Treo” has ever crossed your mind, the Seidio Battery Cover with reset hole is a must.

Seidio Battery Cover

In an attempt to market goods with a high-end feel to both wealthy and not-so-rich consumers, retailers of all levels are redefining luxe

Selling Luxury to the Masses

The other day, Froutan was asking me if Gtalk was encrypted… at the time, I didn’t know.

So I fired up Gtalk, and Ethereal and after a couple of test IM’s it was obvious that it was indeed encrypted to some extent.

So there ya go. 🙂

I guess it really didn’t matter much….

Austin’s new smoking ban improved air quality with little affect on patronage at local bars, according to a recent study.

Smoking ban has little affect on bar business

It’s no secret that rebates are a great tool for a variety of retailers and manufacturers. Rebates generate buzz and sales, yet not all are redeemed adding to their bottom line. BusinessWeek (subscription required) describes the phenomenon and profiles TiVo, which appears typical in paying out only 50% to 60% of potential rebates. BW suggests rebates are a “tax on the disorganized” but a “bonanza to retailers and suppliers.”

Inside TiVo Rebates

Tasha Henderson got tired of her 14-year-old daughter’s poor grades, her chronic lateness to class and her talking back to her teachers, so she decided to teach the girl a lesson.

Mom Makes Teen Stand on Street With Sign

Banned Guy Richie Corvette Advertisement

See it here

TENNIS players have their elbows, housemaids have their knees and athletes have their feet. Now users of the world’s most popular digital music player may have their own affliction – iPod thumb.

Thumbs down for iPod ailment

Soothe a burn, cure a toothache, clear a stuffed nose…

18 Tricks to Teach Your Body

Company severance packages granting pay of two weeks or more per year of service declined between 2001 and this year, according to a recent study.

Severance packages decreasing in U.S

Wow… BRRR… its 24 degrees right now… and icey all over the city in Austin.

According to the TV News, there were 56 car accidents reported between 6pm-8pm tonight… and another 24 were reported between 8pm-10pm. Yikes!

Scotty doesn’t know… So don’t tell Scotty!

I dunno if this makes me special or not – but I got a call from the Neilson ratings people today and now i’m one of the households they call for surveys… they’ll even send me amazon gift certificates for my time. Cool! 🙂

GraffitiWriter is a tele-operated field programable robot which employs a custom built array of spray cans to write linear text messages on the ground at a rate of 15 kilometers per hour. The printing process is similar to that of a dot matrix printer. GraffitiWriter can be deployed in any highly controlled space or public event from a remote location.

GraffitiWriter

This is GREAT news… DECT is finally been approved for US use… this is far superior than trying to run VoIP over Wifi… exciting!

Cordless phones in the US are about to get a major boost from DECT technology, just approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC has granted DECT-based wireless telephony permission to operate in the 1920-1930 MHz band, as part of a “general reorganization of frequency bands in the US,” the DECT Forum said.

DECT wireless telephony arrives in the US

Matrox Graphics announced a breakout box capable of splitting a VGA output so that two monitors can be attached to a single VGA connection.

Matrox Box Splits One Monitor Into Two

Its amazing how much this actually plays like the real thing:

FLASH GAME: Online SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!

Decorating with LED is easy. After learning about many LED enabled home fixtures, we’ve understood that the most of them if not all can be installed by regular contractors or plumbers, with no special skills required. Really, all it takes is to plug in a LED powering connection via low voltage adapter that comes with the product (some can even run on batterries). LED is definately in the trend. Already today you can decorate your home with LED. Be the first to surprise your guests. But before we’ll show you a few great products that will set this new trend in your home, let us comfort you with a few important facts about LED…

Home Decorating with LED – the ultimate trend guide

Sports betting is illegal throughout most of the United States, common throughout much of Europe, and an everyday part of the gambling industry in Nevada. It’s difficult to figure out how much money is bet on sports in the United States since the majority of it is done illegally, but experts estimate a “handle” of more than $200 billion annually

How Sports Betting Works

Airport security screeners are reportedly going to let passengers bring sharp objects on board airplanes again. Today’s Washington Post says the Transportation Security Administration plans to announce security changes Friday.

Sources quoted by the paper say the new rules will allow things like scissors in carry-on bags. The reasoning is that such items are no longer regarded as the greatest threat to airline security. Homeland Security Department officials are said to be more concerned about preventing suicide bomb attacks at airports. Officials want screeners to focus more on finding things that can explode rather than things that are sharp.

The Post reports the newly relaxed rules would allow scissors under four inches long and tools shorter than seven inches.

Sharp Objects May Be Allowed on Planes

Donald Trump is leaving New York to fire people on the West Coast. NBC announced Tuesday that “The Apprentice” has been picked up for a sixth season and will be shot in Southern California.

Next ‘Apprentice’ to Be Shot in Calif.

They’re young, smart, brash. They may wear flip-flops to the office or listen to iPods at their desk. They want to work, but they don’t want work to be their life.

Generation Y: They’ve arrived at work with a new attitude

To get into Google’s internal offices requires a discussion with security, sign in, badge, and escort. However, the dining area has no specific security into or out of it. If you can get past parking security, you can walk right in and eat.

Google Lunch?