Austin

Next month, my girlfriend and I are travelling east. We'll spend a few days with my sister in central Massachusetts, and then head into Boston for the rest of our vacation. We decided against renting a car. Instead, we'll take the commuter rail line into the city. I like commuter rail.

This election, Austin voters will decide whether to give Cap Metro authorization to build a commuter rail line. I plan to vote no. Although commuter rail can be great, this proposal lacks what's required to make it work. I fear we are going to be saddled with an expensive boondoggle, which will preclude real progress on regional transportation issues.

Commuter rail is intended to move people relatively quickly over long distances. Think Cedar Park to the Capitol, not 6th Street to campus. A working commuter rail line would be great, it would relieve some of the pressure on routes such as I-35 and Mopac. Unfortunately, I don't think the Cap Metro plan is going to work.

There are two problems with the Cap Metro plan. First, the train doesn't get you where you want to go. Second, it doesn't provide a good way to get you there. According to the Cap Metro plan, you'll take a train into town, and then transfer to a city bus to get where you want.

This is not a good plan. It makes sense to take the rail into Boston, because once you get there, there is an extensive subway system that will get you where you need to go. Take the rail into Austin and, unless your destination is Highland Mall or Mueller, you are kind of hosed. The Cap Metro vision is that we'll all take busses to our destination. That seems unlikely. I just don't see the Cedar Park suburban commuters giving up their cars if a bus trip is involved.

This proposal is a cart-before-the-horse plan. You need a solid local, urban transportation system at the center, before you can begin building out the commuter lines. A few years ago, Cap Metro tried a proposal to do this. They put forward a light rail plan, and it lost in a squeaker.

I was one of the people who voted against light rail last time. A lot of people were concerned about the disruption on South Congress. Me too, but I withheld support mostly because of a lack of confidence in Cap Metro. It was—literally—a corrupt organization. Moreover, as a user of their service, I was disgusted with the quality of the service they provided. But, times change, and I can envision Cap Metro putting forth a proposal that I'd support.

They should have refined their light rail proposal to account for citizen concern, instead of trying to foist off this boondoggle on us.

Some people are surprised to learn that wiener, my trusty old Inspiron 7000 laptop, runs on electricity, not coal. Amazing, but true.

Even more amazing, until recently, it was running on its original battery. Over the past six months, I've watched it go from over three hours of battery lifetime down to minutes and eventually nothing. A new replacement battery would cost about $150, which probably is more than the laptop is worth. While browsing through Discount Electronics one afternoon I found the battery I needed, new and still sealed, for fifty bucks. Huzzah, wiener would live!

This created a new problem: what to do with the dead battery. See, laptop batteries contain heavy metals that are highly toxic. You don't want to just toss them in the trash. Dell has been getting a lot of recognition for their new computer recycling program. Indeed, it looks like they have a great program if you are doing something like upgrading to a new computer system and want to discard your old one. It makes less sense if you just want to discard an old part, say a laptop battery.

I did some research on the battery disposal issue. I was pleased to find that the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation, a non-profit public service organization, offers a searchable registry of local battery recycling organizations. A search found 80 locations in the Austin area. One location, a Batteries Plus store, was within walking distance of my house.

So I brought the dead battery to the store and told the clerk I had a laptop battery to dispose. He said, "I'll take it."

"Any charge?" I asked.

"Nope," he said.

So, wiener lives on, the waste products of its batteryectomy safely disposed. A shout-out to RBRC and Batteries Plus for their help.

The Austin Music Network (AMN) has had a difficult—sometimes troubled—past. At last week's Telecommunications Commission meeting, we heard a proposal to merge AMN into Austin Community Television (ACTV). We approved it unanimously. The proposal now goes on to the Council Committee for Telecommunications Infrastructure for action.

There are two commonly reported complaints with AMN. The first is financial. The channel has been operated largely with city funding, with ongoing efforts to make it self-sustaining. While the organization has made significant improvements in its financial situation over the past year, I think the notion of financial self-sufficiency is a pipe dream. A lot of people begrude city funding going to the project, especially in these difficult times. Pretending the station could ever be completely self-sustaining only throws fuel on that fire.

The other complaint is about content. People sometimes complain about the amount and quality of original programming. At times, particularly during long stretches of the day, the station provides little original programming. Instead, automated loops and music videos run for hours on end. Funding problems are certainly one of the causes of weak prgoramming. I think with regard to program quality, some people may harbor unrealistic expectations. If the channel is going to feature local talent, the material simply won't have the production values of the major national music networks.

Austin Music Partners, the organization that holds the contract to run AMN, wanted out. The future of the network was uncertain. After weeks of acrimonious debate, a compromise was reached: ACTV would reorganize and AMN would merge into it.

ACTV currently programs three channels. The reorganization would brand each of the channels with an identity: education and the arts (eaTV), inspirational programming (Inspirational TV), and broad spectrum public access (Free TV). The AMN content would be hosted on the education and arts channel. I think the channel reorganization is an excellent idea, irrespective of the AMN issue.

With this change, AMN gives up channel 15 (on the local cable systems) and becomes a content provider on ACTV. I think there are some significant benefits, along with some potential concerns.

First, this change should help provide the long desired stability to AMN. That's the primary problem that needed to be fixed, and this would appear to do that.

This does mean a reduction of programming time available, but in practice this may not be too significant. AMN ran a lot of filler material, such as automated runs of music videos, during off-peak hours. That happens mostly during the day, when demand from the AMN viewers was at its lowest. Other programming probably will appear during those times now. For instance, those are peak hours for children's programming, so that's what's likely to appear on the education and arts channel during the day.

I'm also concerned that ACTV works to keep the AMN identify alive. The commission was assured this would happen.

This sounds like a solution that best serves the arts community while resolving the financial difficulties of AMN. That's why I supported it.

This future of channel 15, after AMN has left, is still open. Now that AMN has found a home, that issue is being handled separately. The City is negotiating with AMP on its future.

If you have concerns on the future of AMN or channel 15, the issue will be taken up at the Council Committee for Telecommunications Infrastructure meeting this week.

A friend's mother suspects her computer has been badly infected by malware. She's tried to get it cleaned up, but believes expert assistance is required. So, she's in search of a good Windows support person. If you know anybody or any place (in Austin) that is really good at PC support, or if you yourself might be interested in the work, please post a comment on this article. I'll direct her to read the recommendations posted here.

Today, I appeared before the Austin City Council Committee for Telecommunications Infrastructure to promote wireless technology. That's a topic that's received significant attention around Austin. The Council Committee directed the Telecommunications Commission to offer a set of recommendations on what the city can do.

A number of efforts already are underway, organized by local industry and community groups. What role, if any, should the city government play in all of this?

A meetup for Austin-area MetaFilter users has been scheduled for June 3rd. I think I may go. Anybody else?

More info here.

Recently, I ordered a gift box of salsa from Jardine's Foods (of Buda) for my mom. Jardine gave me an extra little present that is causing me indigestion: they started spamming me with junk email advertisements.

Technically speaking, even though the unsolicited email is annoying and abusive, it's not really spam. That's because I bought something from them, so I have a business relationship with them. It's generally considered acceptable for businesses you work with to email you, but most reputable companies will at least verify you want to opt-into their advertising materials before they start spamming you.

So, I today I severed that relationship. I directed them to stop spamming me, and I vowed to never purchase another Jardine's product. Before you purchase any Jardine's products, you might consider whether you want to open yourself to the risk of junk email, and whether you want to support businesses that use spamming practices.

We've watched the growing gentrification of South Congress consume those places that created its character. The saddest news of all was reported earlier this year, when it was announced that Terra Toys would be vacating their premises. The question everybody wanted to know is would they relocate elsewhere or be gone for good?

While driving home tonight I saw a happy sight. At the strip mall at the northwest corner of Anderson Ln. and Burnett Rd., I saw a store being remodeled with a big Terra Toys sign out front.

It's great to see they've found a home. This move is particularly symbolic for me. I lived in South Austin for over a dozen years and never expected I'd move north of the river. I did just beginning of this year. In fact, I'm living just down the road from the new Terra Toys location. So, I'd like to welcome them to the hood.

I'm currently sitting in the Council Committee for Telecommunications Infrastructure meeting. Jay Stone of Austin Parks and Recreation Department just announced that the city, in cooperation with a number of local organizations, will begin offering free wireless Internet access in a number of parks.

Auditorium Shores and Republic Square, the parks selected for initial service, are schedule to go live May 18. Brush Square and Woolridge Square are next to follow.

One thing I'm a liittle confused about is that Woolridge Square is already supposed to be lit by signal originating from the Austin History Center. I hope the parks and library folks are coordinating on this.

Up until now, it's been a frustrating afternoon here at The Hideout. I was sitting in the back trying to use my laptop to do some work online. Wireless connectivity on the laptop was drifting in and out, breaking connections on all my remote sessions. It was terribly hard to get work done.

The situation was perplexing, because I was seeing a strong Wi-Fi signal and I was connected to the network (with address and default route assignments). The problem is that I'd be working for a while, then suddenly all my packets started getting dropped. If I tried to reset the interface I'd lose those assignments and the network wouldn't let me back on (DHCP failed).

I asked the server if other people were reporting network problems. She said, "You know, people seem to have all sorts of problems at that table. It seems to work better up front."

I moved to a table up front and reset the network interface. Everything came up fine, and it's been that way since.

Once I looked at the configuration it all became obvious: the Hideout is running multiple networks. They must have one in the theater (or some other meeting area) that is closed, and another in the shop that is open to the public. When I was sitting out back my laptop would hop between the open and closed networks, depending on which signal seemed stronger at the time. When I moved to the front it stayed locked to the public network.

So, wireless visitors to The Hideout should be advised, take care that you don't lock onto the wrong network. If you sit out back, you may need to force a connection onto the open network. Here are the details I saw on the two networks:

open network: channel 6, 2.437GHz, ESSID "hideout"
closed network: channel 11, 2.462GHz, ESSID "THEATRE LOCKDOWN"

The management of The Hideout probably ought to post a sign. I'll forward this article to them.