Sun Microcomputer's latest data management technology (the Zettabyte
File System or ZFS) seeks to address the vulnerable areas of current
disk management systems: vulnerable to silent data corruption,
difficult to manage, and slow. Many current microcomputer OSs fall
into this "vulnerable, difficult, and slow" category. Both Apple Inc.
and Sun Microcomputer have announced that ZFS is coming to OS X.
This Sun white paper (http://www.sun.com/software/whitepapers/
solaris10/zfs_msft.pdf?cid=920608) compares ZFS abilities with a
current server OS: Windows 2003 Server.
http://www.sun.com/software/whitepapers/solaris10/zfs_msft.pdf?
cid=920608
One example from the paper deals with the integrity of data on disk
and how to ensure that this data does not suffer any "silent"
corruption:
"File systems such as Microsoft Windows Server 2003 NTFS permit on-
disk data to be
inconsistent for varying amounts of time. If an unexpected system
crash or reboot
occurs while the on-disk state is inconsistent, the file system
requires repair during the
next boot cycle using a combination of utilities such as CHKDSK and
metadata logging
that requires a log replay. On the other hand, Solaris ZFS provides
consistent on-disk
data and error detection and correction, ensuring data consistency
while maintaining
high performance levels.
"File system corruption can be caused by disk corruption, hardware or
firmware failures,
or software or administrative errors. Validation at the disk block
interface level can only
catch some causes of file system corruption. Traditionally, file
systems trust the data
read in from disk. However, if the file system does not validate read
data, errors can
result in corrupted data, system panics, or more. File systems should
validate data read
in from disk in order to detect downstream data corruption, and
correct corruption
automatically, if possible, by writing the correct block back to the
disk. Such a
validation strategy is a key design goal for Solaris ZFS."
...from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/business/04network.html?
pagewanted=2&th&emc=th
What’s Good for a Business Can Be Hard on Friends
By ANGEL JENNINGS
Published: August 4, 2007
A month ago, Brandy McDowell sat down with her longtime friend, Kezia
Chandler, and told her she had switched cellphone carriers. Their
relationship has not been the same since.
Now, they barely speak. Ms. Chandler rushes Ms. McDowell off the
phone when she calls during her lunch break. And long conversations
about schoolwork and relationship woes have been reduced to sound bites.
Maybe they should blame the cellphone carriers. The carriers, after
all, set up plans that encourage subscribers to talk mainly to people
in the same network. The companies say they are simply trying to
recruit and retain customers.
But what was set up as a purely business strategy is having an
unintentional social effect. It is dividing the people who share
informal bonds and bringing together those who have formal networks
of cellphone “friends.”
That is most true for people younger than 25 because they are the
ones who see the cellphone as an extension of themselves. They are
constantly sending text messages, making calls, checking the time,
scheduling appointments, calculating math, taking photos, playing
games or looking up something on the Internet.
Those who talk the most on the phone are ages 18 to 24, according to
a study of cellphone use by Telephia Inc., a San Francisco research
firm that follows cellphone trends. In the first quarter of 2007,
this group sent and received on average 290 calls a month, the study
found. Text messaging was highest, Telephia said, among 13- to 17-
year-olds, who averaged 435 messages a month.
By contrast, cellphone users 45 to 54 years old spoke on the phone
194 times, on average, a month and sent only 57 text messages.
David S. Hachen, an associate professor of sociology at the
University of Notre Dame who looked at cellphone use and its effects
on people’s relationships, said he had found that cellphone networks
tend to be a reflection of friendship networks.
“Friendship networks,” he said, “tend to be larger in younger groups,
but they have weaker ties with those they talk with. But as they get
older, the networks are smaller and they have stronger ties.”
Some experts worry that cellphones will replace face-to-face contact,
said Scott Campbell, who teaches communication studies at the
University of Michigan.
But after he conducted research on the impact of cellphones on social
networks, Mr. Campbell said he concluded that cellphones actually
enhanced the bonds between users.
“Who young people talk to says something symbolically about who they
are tied to,” Mr. Campbell said in an interview. “And who they are
talking to the most are their close friends.”
Rich Ling, a sociologist at Telenor’s communication research
institute in Norway, who wrote a book on cellphone use called “The
Mobile Connection: The Cellphone’s Impact on Society,” added that
cellphones blur the lines of when an encounter starts and when it ends.
“Young people are not just talking for two hours, but they are
continually connecting through the day,” he said. He cited the young
couple who send text messages and call each other all day to set up
details of a date. “When does the date start, or does it start when
they are sending messages back and forth?”
Mr. Campbell describes text messaging as the equivalent of passing
notes in class, though they are more fragmentary and more frequent.
“A lot of people think these messages are meaningless, but they are
actually symbolic gestures of friendship,” he said.
Unlike traditional landline telephones, which once made callers
distinguish between local and long distance, cellphone carriers
divide the world into in-network and outside. And because basic plans
from the three major cellphone carriers, Verizon, Sprint and AT&T,
are all about the same price — under $60 a month — the deciding
factor for young people, in particular, is what network friends are on.
Carriers are giving customers more options to stay connected with
people outside their network. This year, T-Mobile introduced a plan
that allows customers to choose five telephone numbers outside its
network that they can call free at any time. Sprint offers night
minutes that start at 7 p.m., two hours earlier than competitors.
“We are trying to avoid restricting customers to just people on their
network,” said a Sprint spokeswoman, Emmy Anderson.
But while these plans may allow callers to talk free, the person
receiving the call is still using daytime minutes.
Steve Bufford, 24, of Manhattan, said he constantly monitored his out-
of-network minutes. And he had to cut back on conversations with a
few of his friends — “until the weekends, then we become the best of
friends in the world,” he said.
As for Ms. McDowell and Ms. Chandler, the two who rarely talk on the
phone now, they say they visit each other more.
“We used to talk every day all day,” said Ms. McDowell, a 21-year-old
student at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. “Now I
only hear from her after 9 p.m. so she doesn’t use her minutes.”
In the cellphone world, minutes mean money, a lesson young adults say
they quickly learn when they move off the family plans and sign their
own contracts. While they once talked freely when their parents paid
the bill, they become penny pinchers when they have to pay their own
way.
Elisa Joris, 23, of Walled Lake, Mich., said that was exactly what
happened to her. She became a Sprint customer in high school when her
mother added her to the family plan. Now, seven years later, she
stays with the carrier because the people she talks to the most — her
brother, her former boyfriend and best friends — are all on the network.
Ms. Joris said that because she no longer shared minutes with her
parents, she signed up for the plan with the lowest cost even though
it had the fewest minutes. For $30 a month, she gets 300 daytime
minutes, but it is the free calling within the network that makes the
plan a real bargain.
In June, she used only 200 of those peak-hour minutes. But, she said,
she spent more than 800 minutes on the phone with other Sprint
customers.
“I have seen bills where I have used 1,500 minutes,” she said. “I try
not to talk to those who don’t have Sprint. I don’t have minutes to
waste.”
And while her attitude has yet to affect her relationships in a
negative way, Ms. Joris said it had brought her closer to someone she
now considered a friend who might have been an acquaintance if she
were on another network.
“One reason she talks to me more than her other friends is because we
both have Sprint,” she said.
Some cellphone users say they have found a way to change carriers
without losing touch with friends. As they switch to new companies,
they try to encourage their friends to move with them. Ms. McDowell
said she followed her friends as they hopped around.
In high school, she said, all her friends had the T-Mobile Sidekick —
the sleek, palm-size phone with a full keypad. So she signed a two-
year contract with the cellphone provider so she could send them text
messages at no cost.
Then in college, she said she and her friends switched to Nextel so
they could “chirp” to each other on their walkie-talkie phones.
Last month, she returned to T-Mobile after everybody in her circle
migrated back for the new Sidekick 3.
Her friend, Ms. Chandler, got lost after the second move. She still
has Sprint, now part of Sprint Nextel, but she said she planned to
leave once her contract expired. Ms. McDowell persuaded her to move
to T-Mobile.
“As soon as I can, I am on my way,” Ms. Chandler said.
Apple all along has been very clear about OS X, "It is true UNIX
*not* Linux nor any other form of *NIX".
Pedigree and various other things have been quoted by Apple to
"prove" this but having a certificate of authentication from a
recognized body will definitely help if there's ever a court battle.
Some of the members of the certifying organization include:
- IBM - who make and sell a real UNIX
- Intel
- HP - who also make and sell a real UNIX
- NEC - who sell UNIX machines
- AT&T - who invented UNIX and own (owned?) it
- SUN Microsystems - the company was founded on selling UNIX.
- Carnegie-Mellon - whom you'd assume would kinda know something
about UNIX
- MIT - ditto
- Motorola
Should any customers ask about indemnification in case of being sued
by someone about OS X violating patents (let's use as an arbitrary
example, Microsoft) all Apple need do is reply, "UNIX does not
violate any 3rd party patents." (which pretty much everyone, even
Microsoft, agrees with) followed by, "Apple's OS X is certified as
UNIX." Done. No indemnification necessary.
Makes life in the courtroom a whole lot easier.
Wayne
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Doug Hamilton <doug_hamilton(a)umanitoba.ca>
> Date: August 2, 2007 2:12:17 PM CDT (CA)
> Subject: [C-REPS] Mac OS X 10.5 - obtains UNIX 03 Certification
>
> Hello,
>
> As of version 10.5 (shipping in October of this year) Mac OS X is
> will be on par with Solaris, HP-UX and IBM-AIX as a true UNIX OS
> development environment. Apple has just achieved the UNIX 03
> Certification for its Mac OS X 10.5 operation system. This
> certification covers, "libraries, system calls, terminal
> interfaces, commands and utilities, internationalization and the C
> language."
>
> Link to the InfoWorld article (very short).
> http://weblog.infoworld.com/enterprisemac/archives/2007/07/
> leopard_gets_un.html?source=rss
>
>
> Regards,
> Doug
>
> -------------
> Doug Hamilton, BA, MA, APP
> Senior Computer Consultant
> Computers-on-Campus; Univ. of Manitoba
> 204-474-6196 (Ph.)
> 204-474-7556 (Fax)
> http://www.umanitoba.ca/bookstore/
Hello,
Many of you have heard that the Macintosh Business Unit (MBU) inside
Microsoft is busy creating "Office 2008 for Mac". Originally,
Microsoft had stated that the release window for this product as
second half of this year. As of today, they pushed their release
window out to mid-January 2008 for quality assurance reasons.
While we still do not have a fixed release date, we have gone from a
six month release window down to 30 days.
For more details please see the following MacWorld article.
http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/08/01/msftoffice/index.php?pf=1
Regards,
Doug
-------------
Doug Hamilton, BA, MA, APP
Senior Computer Consultant
Computers-on-Campus; Univ. of Manitoba
204-474-6196 (Ph.)
204-474-7556 (Fax)
http://www.umanitoba.ca/bookstore/
Well, OK, maybe there aren't too many of you that fit into that
category but, just in case:
...from:
http://boingo.com/pr/pr160.php
BOINGO GIVES IPHONE USERS FREE WI-FI AT 13 MAJOR AIRPORTS IN AUGUST
Today’s Coolest Smartphone Gets Free Access to the World’s Hottest
Network
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – August 1, 2007 – Boingo Wireless, Inc. today
announced that iPhone™ owners can enjoy free Wi-Fi as they travel for
business or pleasure through 13 North American airports during the
month of August.
This special limited time offer is available to all iPhone owners who
access the Wi-Fi networks with their iPhone, giving them an
introduction to the world’s largest aggregated Wi-Fi network. iPhone
owners who like what they see can sign up for and use a Boingo®
account to access hundreds of partner networks comprising 100,000+
hotspots.
With Boingo Wireless, users of Apple Inc.’s sexy new smartphone can
enjoy the full spectrum of coolness available via the iPhone’s highly
integrated functionality and multimedia applications while powered by
Boingo’s broadband networks. It’s the ultimate iPhone adventure.
“iPhone users are searching for Wi-Fi options that will keep the
device’s coolest features and content functioning at lightning speeds
when on-the-go,” said Dawn Callahan, Boingo’s vice president of
consumer marketing. “With our extensive hot spot coverage, choosing
Boingo is a no-brainer for iPhone users who are looking for public
access options beyond EDGE. This free promotion is a great
opportunity for iPhone users to see for themselves.”
To enjoy complimentary Boingo Wi-Fi on the iPhone, follow these four
easy steps:
Connect to the “concourse” SSID with an iPhone in any of the
identified airports;
Launch your iPhone Safari™ browser and connect to a web page on the
Internet;
Enter your e-mail address in the special promotional page;
Click on “Go!”
During August, iPhone owners can receive free Wi-Fi access at the
following airports:
AZO – Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport
BNA – Nashville International Airport,
BWI – Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport,
DTW – Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport,
EWR – Newark Liberty International Airport,
JFK – John F. Kennedy International Airport,
LGA – LaGuardia Airport,
MDW – Midway International Airport (Chicago),
MSP – Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport,
OKC – Will Rogers World Airport (Oklahoma City),
ORD – O’Hare International Airport,
STL – Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, and
YYZ – Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Even if you aren't in the medical profession, this is an interesting
demo of a patient information system available via web browsers on
Windows and Macintosh...... and iPhone (kinda makes me want to become
a surgeon just so I can use it.... .when I get an iPhone, of
course. ::-)
Wayne
...from:
http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2007/07/25/the-iphone-really-can-save-
lives/
http://emr.liferecord.com/
July 25, 2007, 3:41 pm
The iPhone Really Can Save Lives!
Posted by Ben Worthen
The iPhone can’t do brain surgery. But it sure can help, according to
one doctor, reinforcing this blog’s belief that creative iPhone users
will show that the device holds great promise as a business tool –
often before tech managers figure that out.
For business users, the biggest advantage of the iPhone over the
BlackBerry isn’t the ability to play music or its lack of buttons or
its several degrees of cool. It’s the iPhone’s Web browser, which
makes the phone function more like a laptop than a handheld.
Dr. Robert Singer is already taking advantage of that iPhone feature.
By his own admission a tech geek, the Nashville, Tenn., neurovascular
surgeon initially bought an iPhone because he thought it would be a
fun device to own. “I was one of the June 29ers,” he tells the
Business Technology Blog, referring to the day the iPhone went on
sale. But he quickly saw that the browser made it an ideal workplace
tool.
Video demo: http://www.youtube.com/v/uX_6yIO2bR8
Dr. Singer, who says he performs about 450 surgeries a year, uses his
iPhone to access his practice’s electronic medical-records system.
Thanks to the iPhone’s browser, he is able to review patients’ X-
Rays, angiograms and medical histories while in the operating room.
(Click on the video to the left for a demonstration.) He was never
able to do this with his BlackBerry, he says; instead, he would
review a patient’s file in his office the night before a surgery. Not
only does the iPhone let him go into surgery fresher, he also can see
updated information. Earlier this week, for example, he changed the
way he performed a back operation based on notes from an old surgery
that had been added to a patient’s electronic record shortly before
he made his first cut.
Verizon was similarly critical. “Google’s filing urges the F.C.C. to
adopt rules that force all bidders to [allow consumers to buy a
wireless phone at a store, but instead of being forced to use a
specific carrier, they would be free to pick any carrier they wanted.
Instead of the wireless carrier choosing what software goes on their
phones, users would be free to put any software they want on it] —
which would reduce the incentives for other players to bid,” said
Thomas J. Tauke, Verizon’s executive vice president of public
affairs, policy and communications, in a statement
...from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/21/technology/21google.html?
pagewanted=2&th&emc=th
Google Pushes for Rules to Aid Wireless Plans
By MIGUEL HELFT and STEPHEN LABATON
Published: July 21, 2007
If Google succeeds with federal regulators, it could change the way
millions of Americans use their cellphones and how they connect to
the Internet on their wireless devices.
In the Internet giant’s view of the future, consumers would buy a
wireless phone at a store, but instead of being forced to use a
specific carrier, they would be free to pick any carrier they wanted.
Instead of the wireless carrier choosing what software goes on their
phones, users would be free to put any software they want on it.
Google believes that the cost of voice calls and data connections to
the Internet may be partly subsidized by advertisements brought to
users by Google’s powerful online advertising machine.
There might even be a Google phone.
That vision, according to several analysts, is the reason Google said
yesterday that it would bid upward of $4.6 billion for a swath of the
nation’s airwaves, which are set to be auctioned by the federal
government next year — as long as certain conditions are met.
But Google’s efforts to position itself on the side of the consumer
are also part of a fierce lobbying battle that pits it and other tech
companies against wireless carriers, who oppose conditions that
Google wants to set on the winners of the auction. Verizon Wireless
has called the conditions “corporate welfare for Google.” And AT&T
rejected Google’s latest effort, calling it an “all or nothing
ultimatum.” The Federal Communications Commission chairman, Kevin
Martin, has come out squarely against two of Google’s four proposed
conditions.
The F.C.C.’s rules governing the auction could shape the landscape
for the next generation of mobile telephones and wireless Internet use.
“When you go to Best Buy to buy a TV, they don’t ask whether you have
cable or satellite,” said Blair Levin, a former F.C.C. official who
is now an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Company. “When you buy a
computer, they don’t ask what kind of Internet service you have, and
the computer can run any application or service. That doesn’t exist
in the wireless world. That’s where Google wants to go with this
auction.”
Google has already invested millions of dollars in mobile phone
technology, in part, to develop a comprehensive set of software for
mobile devices that goes well beyond the mobile search and map
services it already offers. Rumors about a Google phone that would
provide easy access to the company’s mobile services have been
persistent.
The company has been characteristically circumspect about its mobile
plans, and just this week, Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive,
deflected questions from an analyst about plans for a mobile phone.
“We have looked pretty carefully at wireless and are thinking about
what we want to do there,” Mr. Schmidt said.
But Mr. Schmidt stressed the importance to Google of a network where
anyone could plug in any device and have access to the full abilities
of the Internet. In such an environment, Mr. Schmidt noted, mobile
phone users would become significant consumers of online advertising,
Google’s core business.
Google fears that some of its mobile efforts could be thwarted — or
prove less lucrative — if a handful of cellphone carriers continue to
dominate the wireless Internet world and retain the power to
determine what services and applications run on their networks.
Google’s set of proposed rules would have the F.C.C. require that any
devices and any application could be connected to the wireless
network using the auctioned spectrum. Further, they would require
that whoever wins the spectrum make a portion of it available to
resellers on a wholesale basis, which Google and other technology
companies believe is necessary to promote broadband competition.
“I want people to have the choice to use our service,” said Chris
Sacca, head of special initiatives at Google. “That is something that
I fear won’t exist in this space.”
Even if Google’s service was not blocked outright, an open network
would be favorable to Google’s business, as the company would not
have to contract with carriers to insert ads into the service, said
Paul Kedrosky, executive director of the William J. von Liebig Center
for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement at the University of
California, San Diego.
So what would Google do if its conditions were put in place and it
won the auction?
Mr. Sacca said that Google was not likely to build a wireless network
or get into the Internet service business itself. “We could offer it
to anyone who wants to collaborate with us who embraces our
principles of openness,” Mr. Sacca said.
The licenses, considered the beach-front property on the
electromagnetic spectrum, are in the 700 megahertz band of radio
frequencies, which are being surrendered by television stations as
they convert to digital broadcast. The auction, to be held early next
year, is expected to raise more than $10 billion in revenue for the
government.
The commission has been heavily lobbied in recent months about
crafting auction rules. The commission is expected to issue the rules
in the coming weeks. Any rules can be adopted only by a majority of
the five commissioners.
Mr. Martin’s draft proposal contains some elements of Google’s plan
but not others. It proposed, among other things, that about one-third
of the spectrum being auctioned be available for an “open network”
that could be used by any mobile device or service. It also proposed
no limits on the software applications used over that network.
“We’re trying to ensure that we develop a wireless broadband provider
who has a more open platform,” he said in an interview yesterday.
He said he wanted the terms of the auction set so the winners invest
in upgrading wireless networks. But he also emphasized that his
proposed rules would permit the winners to resell spectrum.
“If you want to be the winner of the auction, we are proposing open
handsets and open applications,” he said. “If you win, you can be a
wholesale supplier. Nothing prevents that.”
On Thursday, AT&T said it represented a fair compromise. But
yesterday, after Google said the Mr. Martin’s proposal didn’t go far
enough, AT&T reacted swiftly.
“This is an attempt to pressure the U.S. government to turn the
auction process on its head by ensuring only a few, if any, bidders
will compete with Google,” said James W. Cicconi, a senior executive
vice president at AT&T, in a statement. “If Google is serious about
introducing a competing business model into the wireless industry,
Chairman Martin’s compromise proposal allows them to bid in the
auction, win the spectrum, and then implement every one of the
conditions they seek.”
Verizon was similarly critical. “Google’s filing urges the F.C.C. to
adopt rules that force all bidders to implement Google’s business
plan — which would reduce the incentives for other players to bid,”
said Thomas J. Tauke, Verizon’s executive vice president of public
affairs, policy and communications, in a statement.
At a Congressional hearing next Tuesday, Mr. Martin is expected to
testify about the auction and the proposed rules.
Some commission officials and telephone industry executives have
expressed concern that Google was seeking the imposition of a
wholesale requirement so that it could purposefully lose the auction,
but still have access to a network at lower cost.
Mr. Levin, the former F.C.C. official, suggested that Google’s latest
move might simply be an effort to put pressure on the commission.
“There is a significant difference between saying you are going to
bid and actually bidding,” Mr. Levin said.
“Lots of people in the context of an auction policy make promises,”
he said. “Whether they follow through is a different matter.”
...from:
http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/07/20/dukecisco/index.php
Cisco access point at fault for Duke's wireless issues
July 20, 2007 6:11 pm ET
Macworld
By Jim Dalrymple
After blaming Apple’s iPhone for its wireless networking problems,
Duke University said earlier today that it hadn’t been able to
pinpoint what the problem was. Now, it has been confirmed that a
Cisco wireless access point was at fault for the networking issues.
“Cisco worked closely with Duke and Apple to identify the source of
this problem, which was caused by a Cisco-based network issue,” said
Cisco in a statement provided to Macworld. “Cisco has provided a fix
that has been applied to Duke’s network and the problem has not
occurred since.”
In a statement posted to the universities Web site late Friday Tracy
Futhey, Duke’s chief information officer, said that “Earlier reports
that this was a problem with the iPhone in particular have proved to
be inaccurate.”
Futhey went on to say that the iPhone is fully operable within Duke’s
networking environment.
Kevin Miller, assistant director, communications infrastructure, with
Duke’s Office of Information Technology, laid the blame for Duke’s
networking problems squarely on the iPhone.
The network team began capturing wireless traffic for analysis and
that’s when they discovered that the offending devices were iPhones,
Miller said earlier this week.
“I don’t believe it’s a Cisco problem in any way, shape or form,”
Miller said firmly.
Duke began backpedaling earlier today when Julian Lombardi, assistant
vice president of academic services technology support for Duke
University, said the university was still investigating the issue.
It would appear at this point that Miller made his statements without
a full report or any basis to blame the iPhone or Apple for the
problems.
...from:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=3391477
Duke: iPhone May Be Disrupting Network
Apple Inc.'s flashy new iPhones may be jamming parts of the wireless
network at Duke University, where technology officials worked with
the company Wednesday to fix problems before classes begin next month.
Bill Cannon, a Duke technology spokesman, said an analysis of traffic
found that iPhones flooded parts of the campus' wireless network with
access requests, freezing parts of the system for 10 minutes at a time.
A single iPhone was powerful enough to cause the problem, and there
are 100 to 150 of them registered on the network, Cannon said.
Network administrators have noticed the problem nine times in the
past week.
"The scale of the problem is very small right now," said Cannon,
adding that the school is working with Apple and Cisco Systems Inc.,
Duke's network equipment provider, to pinpoint the problem. "But the
more iPhones that are around, the more they could be knocking on the
door for access."
The iPhone is Apple's first foray into the cellular phone business.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company released the product which
combines a cell phone, media player and wireless Internet device at
the end of June, with some consumers lining up outside stores days
before the phones went on sale. The phones retail for $499 to $599.
The gadget can access the Internet through AT&T Inc.'s Edge network
or through Wi-Fi. When a Wi-Fi hotspot is unavailable, it
automatically switches to the slower network but continues to check
for a Wi-Fi signal.
Ashok Agrawala, a computer science professor at the University of
Maryland, speculated that both the phone and Duke's network are to
blame for the glitches at the university. Agrawala said the phones
could be struggling to regain a connection with a wireless access
point, possibly when a wireless hotspot hands off to another.
"When you set up a network on the campus, you set up the network to
accommodate the devices you have in use," Agrawala said, noting
laptops as the primary users on college campuses. "Now with the
popularity of the iPhones, the network parameters may not be set right.
But he added that the iPhone should be able to properly handle that
problem without flooding the network. Agrawala said he also questions
whether an iPhone is capable of accessing Duke's network 10,000 times
a second, as found by the school's analysis.
Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokeswoman, said the company is working
with Duke to quickly resolve the issue but didn't know details or its
source.
The problem has generated discussion on Internet technology forums,
but there have been no reports of other networks being affected. At
Maryland, for example, officials said they hadn't seen anything like
the problems at Duke.
Greg James, associate director of data networking at nearby North
Carolina State University, said Wednesday that the school hasn't
noticed any issues at its campus in Raleigh despite the usual
monitoring of all wireless access points.
"We're keeping a close eye out to what happens at Duke and what they
find," James said.
"Read [Mac] volumes when booted in Windows"
<http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070717090846961>
"... HFSExplorer, a free and open-source utility that provides read-only
access to HFS+ volumes and DMG files from Windows. If you use Boot
Camp to
run Windows, this is a great way to get to your Mac's files, at least
on a
read-only basis."
For you non-Mac people, "HFS+" is the filesystem used by virtually all
Mac volumes; "DMG files" are .dmg disk image archive files, commonly
used.
