Bits & Bytes

Our on-air guest today is Steve Narducci with NDWave.

NDWave is a local company right here in Anderson, IN.  They provide internet access.  They have a HUGE coverage area.  If you can’t get cable or DSL (or even if you can and you want to switch to a local company!), call them at 649-5552 or visit www.ndwave.com.

From our friends at ZDNet.com:

Seinfeld to host the Microsoft Makeover by ZDNet’s Sam Diaz — Finally, Microsoft is responding to the long-running “Mac vs PC” advertising campaign and they’re tapping Jerry Seinfeld to be the pitchman. According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft’s $300 million campaign is kicking off with a $10 million bit with Seinfeld. It’s too early to say whether the ads, set to debut September 4, can effectively [...]

PC-ER will soon be having a “Build Your Own PC” class.  In this class, we will take the components necessary to build a computer and build it right in class.  Along the way you’ll learn about the different parts that go into making a computer, installing an operating system, and some other PC tips.  Of course the computer you build will be yours!  More details will be coming soon.  If this is something you may be interested in, please give us a call at (765) 374-3072.

http://adeona.cs.washington.edu/

From the Adeona website:

Adeona is the first Open Source system for tracking the location of your lost or stolen laptop that does not rely on a proprietary, central service. This means that you can install Adeona on your laptop and go — there’s no need to rely on a single third party. What’s more, Adeona addresses a critical privacy goal different from existing commercial offerings. It is privacy-preserving. This means that no one besides the owner (or an agent of the owner’s choosing) can use Adeona to track a laptop. Unlike other systems, users of Adeona can rest assured that no one can abuse the system in order to track where they use their laptop.

Adeona is designed to use the Open Source OpenDHT distributed storage service to store location updates sent by a small software client installed on an owner’s laptop. The client continually monitors the current location of the laptop, gathering information (such as IP addresses and local network topology) that can be used to identify its current location. The client then uses strong cryptographic mechanisms to not only encrypt the location data, but also ensure that the ciphertexts stored within OpenDHT are anonymous and unlinkable. At the same time, it is easy for an owner to retrieve location information.

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/parents/reviewcorner/software/

Another “back to school” website of the week for you.  This week it’s from the Discovery Channel.  Their Parent Channel online has educational software reviews.  If you have kids and you want to help give them a boost in their learning, this is a great site to learn about the various educational software choices out there.

From our friends at FoxNews.com:

One of the few remaining Internet-free havens vanished Wednesday as American Airlines launched airborne e-mail, Web and other online services on some of its longer, nonstop flights.

The move could create a new stream of revenue for an aviation industry facing high fuel prices and other challenges. But it also could create new headaches as passengers retrieve sensitive e-mails and Web sites in confined quarters.

It also could end a common excuse people have to avoid checking “urgent” e-mail requests from their bosses. Unread magazines and books could now pile up as passengers devote their time aloft to electronic browsing.

American, a unit of AMR Corp., tested in-flight access on two flights on June 25. With Wednesday’s launch, the airline is making service available for $12.95 per flight on its 15 Boeing 767-200 planes connecting New York with Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.

Woo Hoo!!

Surfing while flying goods good to me!  $12.95 doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me either.  This is a great move and I hope it expands soon!