Posts by Johnny Utah

Cache size

"along with the same 64MB cache and 7,200rpm spin speed as the other Caviar Blacks."

I have two 640 GB Caviar Blacks and I remember the cache being advertised as 32 MB. It looks like the only Caviar Black SATA 3 GB/s model that has 64 MB is the 2 TB model. I notice that on the page of general info about the Caviar Black line they generously provide the following though:

"Colossal cache - Bigger, faster cache of up to 64 MB means faster performance."

Will it have a mood organ?

I've thought about using short phrases from books I like as names for my businesses and products and wondered if it would cause any problems along these lines. In particular, I've considered Philip K. Dick books.

I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that those types of phrases are generally fair game, legally speaking, unless they've been trademarked. As I understand it, the copyright that protects the book doesn't interfere with the ability to use some phrase that appears in the book, perhaps even the title, as a trademark.

However, I personally would prefer not to be sued by someone for using a phrase from their book, even if the claim is without legal merit. And if you're using a phrase from someone's book because you like the book, and the author objects, that's kind of awkward. (The estate objecting is kind of a different story.)

I think generally it doesn't become an issue unless you are or become a big business, like Google. Otherwise it may be unlikely to get noticed, and even if it does the author may not care. And if you're as big as Google, you have plenty of financial and legal firepower to fight it out or settle it with cash if you want.

I seem to recall hearing about a lawsuit concerning the name "Californication". If I remember correctly, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were suing to prevent the name from being used for the TV show, but the claim didn't succeed because they hadn't trademarked the name. Perhaps the matter isn't settled yet.

I hate to repeat something that plenty of people have already said, but there are a lot of people that don't seem to understand (or don't want to understand) that what seems to be provoking the daughter's ire is not just the name "Nexus One", which is pretty generic, but the use of that name in close connection with "Android". I don't know if that's a coincidence or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not.

I'm not sure how big of a deal I think that is, even if it's not a coincidence, and even though I'm a fan of Philip K. Dick and becoming less enamored with Google all the time.

By the way, I just read an article ( http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9312497 ) yesterday about how the economic downturn is helping sales of non-Champagne sparkling wines, such as Prosecco and Cava. Quote: "The United States has agreed to stop new domestic producers from using the name [Champagne], but many, including Barefoot, were grandfathered in since they have existed for years."

NOVA

Weird timing -- I never knew about these spy programs until I saw a NOVA episode about it a couple of days ago ( http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/astrospies/about.html ).

The Air Force animation they have in the show is pretty great (see chapter 3):

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/astrospies/program.html

I know it's just a little creative license when the article refers to "gun turrets" on the Almaz, but according to the NOVA show the 23mm canon appears to have been stationary and a cosmonaut who trained on Almaz describes the basic process of rotating the entire station to aim the weapon head on at an approaching target. It's in chapter 5 from the above link.

Lenovo IdeaPad S12

Lenovo now offers an IdeaPad S12 model, that they describe as a netbook, with an N270 and 12.1" 1280x800 screen.

Verizon / FairPoint DSL iffy

When I originally tried the test on DoxPara, it said my name server looked ok, but to check that the port numbers didn't appear to follow a predictable pattern, which some of them did. Now it says "Your name server, at 71.250.0.38, may be safe, but the NAT/Firewall in front of it appears to be interfering with its port selection policy. The difference between largest port and smallest port was only 65."

These are the results of the other test:

1. 71.250.0.36 appears to have POOR source port randomness and GREAT transaction ID randomness.

2. 71.250.0.38 appears to have POOR source port randomness and GREAT transaction ID randomness.

3. 71.250.0.39 appears to have POOR source port randomness and GREAT transaction ID randomness.

I do things like pay my bills online, so the other day I called my ISP, FairPoint, to ask if they had addressed this problem. The number on their website actually connected me to Verizon tech support (from whom FairPoint recently bought the phone / internet business in this area). I spent something like an hour on the phone with them doing a lot of waiting and getting bounced around from person to person, and ultimately I got no information. The tech support people at this company are morons and had no idea what I was talking about and were unable to put me in touch with anyone who did.

So what do these results mean, am I in good shape or not?