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It's Just this Little Chromium Switch Here

Weblogging and commentary by Chip Rosenthal

Big Gig "How Can Google Not Love Us?" Happy Hour and Tweetup, Mar. 23

Submitted by chip on Thu, 18-Mar-2010 - 10:19 am
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Big Gig Austin logoOne month ago, Google challenged us to show them why Austin, Texas would be the best city in the world to build their gigabit fiber network. We came together and showed them the creativity and enthusiasm that makes Austin world famous.

The end is in sight. The Mar. 26 nomination deadline is days away. So, let's get together to celebrate what we've accomplished and push this effort over the finish line.

Please join us:

Big Gig "How Can Google Not Love Us?" Happy Hour and Tweetup
Sponsored by Big Gig Austin
Tuesday, Mar. 23, 5:30pm
The Highball, 1142 S. Lamar Blvd. (map)

Happy hour specials until 7:00pm: $2 Lone Stars, $2 pints and $4 wells. Plus free karaoke.

Hang out for Geeks Who Drink at 8:30pm.

Thanks to the groovy cats at The Highball for hosting us.

Co-sponsored by: Slackerwood, Helios Project.

New Wordpress Plugin Provides Anti-Spam Protection Against Email Address Harvesting

Submitted by chip on Sun, 14-Mar-2010 - 11:17 am
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I've just released a Wordpress plugin to protect email addresses that appear in the body of posts against harvesting by spam 'bots.

The plugin is called wp-spamspan. It works by automatically rewriting an email address that spam 'bots encounter into a form like:

chip [at] unicom [dot] com

But for people, the email address appears as a clickable link.

The home page for the plugin is here: http://www.unicom.com/sw/wp-spamspan

Mar 18 update: Today, I received approval to add this plugin to the official Wordpress directory. Watch for it there (real soon now...).

Tonight! Public Forum on Austin Response to Google "Fiber for Communities" Initiative

Submitted by chip on Wed, 10-Mar-2010 - 9:48 am
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Big Gig Austin logoThe Big Gig Austin effort continues tonight, with a public forum to discuss the Austin response to the Google "Fiber for Communities" initiative. The forum is sponsored by the Community Technology and Telecommunications Commission.

Public Forum
Wed, Mar 10, 7:00 PM
Austin City Hall
Room 1101, Boards & Commissions Room
301 W. Second St.
Austin, TX
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/cityhall/visit.htm

The public is invited to attend and participate.

The forum is tentatively scheduled to be cablecast live on City of Austin cable channel 6, and streamed live online at: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/channel6

Statement at the "Big Gig Austin" Press Conference

Submitted by chip on Tue, 09-Mar-2010 - 1:28 pm
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Statement by Chip Rosenthal
"Big Gig Austin" Press Conference
March 9, 2010

I'm Chip Rosenthal. I'm the chair of the Austin Community Technology and Telecommunications Commission. One of our jobs is to advise the City on what the people of Austin want for technology services. I'm here today to say that the people of Austin want Google to select Austin for their gigabit trial network project.

Within hours of the Google announcement, there were flurries of emails and tweets all across Austin. People were asking our city leaders to respond to the Google proposal – and they have. The Mayor and City Council have unanimously passed a resolution to submit a response to Google. City Manager Marc Ott and city staff have been working aggressively to produce a response that documents why Austin is the best place in the nation for Google to build their gigabit network.

That's what the people of Austin have asked for. And that's what the City is doing. That's great – but it's not enough.

This is not a standard company recruitment effort. The City isn't offering any economic incentives to Google. The City can't – and Google doesn't want them anyways.

Big Gig Austin -- The Public Campaign to Bring Google Fiber Network to Austin

Submitted by chip on Wed, 24-Feb-2010 - 12:54 pm
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I wrote previously that the City of Austin is working on a response to the Google "Fiber for Communities" request for information (RFI). I've met with City Council and city staff members, and everybody is enthused about the opportunity.

That's great -- but it's not enough.

If Austin is going to convince Google to build here, it's going to take a strong community response. In fact, there is a whole section of questions for the City to document the community response to the initiative.

The "Big Gig Austin" initiative has been created by a number of supporters, who want to work in support of the Google RFI. We've got about one month to document how incredibly badly Austin wants this network to be built here.

The official rollout of the project will be happening in the next few days. In the meantime, we've created a couple of resources.

24-Hour Twitter Campaign

If, in the next 24 hours, if we can get 200 people to follow @BigGigAustin, I'll ask the City to put us in a press release. I know there have been discussions about sending out a press release about the Google fiber project. If we can get that kind of following so quickly, I'll ask the City to cite us in their press release as an example of how Austin is rallying behind this project.

So let's make the news. Follow @BigGigAustin and tweet your friends to join.

The Story of Soft Whorehouse

Submitted by chip on Mon, 22-Feb-2010 - 12:34 pm
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A Facebook friend posted a comment about his local Tiger Direct store becoming CompUSA. That prompted me to post the following reminiscence as a comment.

So, around 1986, I'm working at this semiconductor company in far North Dallas. The area was really just one big industrial park. In the same area was this hole-in-the-wall computer place called "Soft Warehouse".

This was in the day of beige-box PCs, where you typically either bought from IBM or built from parts. The Belt Line Road area of Dallas was full of cheap storefront computer places. They'd build and sell their own lines of computers, along with parts for do-it-yourselfers. Soft Warehouse was a store in our neighborhood/industrial park, walking distance from the plant, that primarily sold software and components -- at the cheapest prices around.

Purchasing departments loved them, because they were corp account friendly, and you could buy your Hayes modem there and it would be $3 cheaper than any other place in town. The service was so horrible, however, that we'd have to spend 45 minutes at the will call window to get our parts. Somehow purchasing departments thought that was a good trade-off. But we hated them. We'd call them "Soft Whorehouse."

The formula of crappy service with a huge inventory at a great price was a win for them. Their business boomed, along with the entire PC business. Eventually they moved out of the industrial park to a big box storefront, and rebranded themselves CompUSA.

But they'll still always be "Soft Whorehouse" to me.

City Asks Your Support on Google Network Response

Submitted by chip on Fri, 19-Feb-2010 - 12:58 pm
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On Wednesday, the Austin City Council Committee for Emerging Technology and Telecommunications discussed the Google Fiber for Communities initiative. All three members (Councilmembers Laura Morrison, Randi Shade, Chris Riley) enthusiastically supported the project. They asked City staff to begin working on our response, and they promised to bring a motion for support before the full City Council. The councilmembers also directed city staff to work closely with the community, to get their support and assistance.

Today, I got the following email from Rondella Hawkins, the Manager of Telecommunications and Regulatory Affairs for the City of Austin. That's the department that is coordinating the City of Austin response. She is asking citizens to act in support of the RFI.

So to everybody who has been asking what you can do to bring the Google fiber network to Austin ... here you go!

Hello,

As you probably already know, the City is submitting an application to Google’s RFI to build FTTH fiber network here in Austin with a fast-approaching deadline of March 26th!!! We all know that Austin is the perfect test community for Google’s fiber network pilot.

You can help support Austin by completing Google's separate on-line application for residents and community groups. This in addition to the City's application.

Please note that you will need a Google email account (gmail.com).

Here is link: http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options

Don’t forget to spread the word to others! The city will launch a publicized campaign but I wanted to get the word out.

Thanks!

Rondella M. Hawkins
Manager of the Office of Telecommunications & Regulatory Affairs

The Untold Story of the Google Gigabit Network Project

Submitted by chip on Thu, 11-Feb-2010 - 6:46 pm
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Have you heard the one about Google wanting to come to your hometown to build a gigabit fiber network?

Google says they want to do this as an experiment. They want to trial new methods for building networks. They want to see what emerges where high-bandwidth networks are available.

That's what they say. Don't you believe it for a second.

Yes, this is indeed a trial, but what Google is trialing here isn't technology so much as policy.

The incumbent broadband providers have told the regulators that they are hobbled by old infrstructure, and can't afford to deploy new technologies such as "fiber to the home" and DOCSIS 3.0. The incumbent providers are saying that bandwidth is scarce and consumers are eating too much, so networks must be monitored and metered and managed. They are saying they cannot open their broadband networks to competitors and remain economically viable.

Google is calling bullshit on them.

Craig's List Spammer Audacity

Submitted by chip on Wed, 27-Jan-2010 - 5:32 pm
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In my last article, I posted about a stupid spammer who scraped my email from Craig's List, but failed to setup their spamming tool properly. I've had additional posts to Craig's List since then, which means even more spam.

Today, I'd like to highlight a spam that stands out not for its stupidity, but its audacity.

To: sale-3phcj-xxxxxxxxxx [at] craigslist [dot] org
Subject: Re:Ranmaru 20-piece stoneware dinnerware set - $55 (north-central Austin)
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:52:14 -0500
From: averyfbvnv [at] aol [dot] com

Dear Subscriber,

Thanks for joining our craigslist phone marketing membership! In about
36 hours you'll start getting phone calls from Craigslist affiliates giving
few deals.

Maximum number of promotional calls every day as choosen by the
applicant - 43

Day hours choosen by the applicant to take calls- 12:30 AM - 3:00 AM austin

In case you wish to unsubscribe from the program
http://adremoval.co.cc.INVALID/

This will remove your number from the program so you won't face any phone
calls from craigslist partners again.

Many regards

Michael

Craig's List Spammer Fail

Submitted by chip on Wed, 20-Jan-2010 - 5:49 pm
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Spammers are idiots. Craig's List spammers are an especially stupid and annoying breed.

To: sale-yx2eq-xxxxxxxxxx [at] craigslist [dot] org
Subject: Re #CSVFIELD(3)#
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:03:38 -0500
From: loreanrhr [at] aim [dot] com

Hullo

I observed you live #CSVFIELD(2)#, I have a apartment there as well.

Anyway, I glanced at your post. Look, you do not have to be rid of #CSVFIELD(3)#.

See my weblog for better road to take.

Scan This Web Link To Read More.

Peace
Mike

I've got two current items listed on Craig's List: a computer and a wireless router. I assume this is in response to one of them.

The link in the message went to a Yahoo Search Pad page for "The Honest At Home Cash Method".