Windows XP and Vista hides the advanced user dialog from the control panel area. This area has been used in Windows 2000 to set saved passwords for login, and also to save passwords for Exchange servers so that you don’t need to type in a password every time you open Outlook.

It can be used to save a password for Outlook if your domain is not the same as your Exchange server. If you don’t set this password, then the proxy server will always ask for a password even if you check off “Save Password”.

Go to Start->Run, then type in:

control userpasswords2

This will launch the advanced user dialog. You can now access the advanced tab. Tested in XP Professional and Vista Business.

Drupal’s administration login area is not secure by default. Usually there is an option in the configuration area of content management systems to set a secure area for logins, otherwise your username and password are sent in plain text over the internet.

Luckily, there is a module which enforces secure login on a Drupal install.

Drupal Module: Securepages

Although it is still in development, the 6.x-1.x-dev version worked great with my Drupal 6.4 installation.

We received this Blu-ray player along with a few Blu-Ray DVDs for an anniversary present. The BDP-S301 is the same as the BDP-S300 except it is only sold at wholesale outlets like Costco and Sam’s Club. The S301 also includes an HDMI cable.

The Pros: The image looks great. Hands down it is a clean, crisp image, and with the latest firmware updates (click here) supports most audio configurations.

The Cons: This thing is the slowest media player I have ever laid my hands on.

The instructions warn that the initial setup could take 90 seconds to start and after that, start up would be quicker. I suppose they didn’t lie - start up on an everyday basis takes around 40 seconds or more! After that, you can finally eject the tray to insert your movie, or make your way to the menu.

Forty seconds, when you have an impatient toddler wanting to watch Finding Nemo for the 50th time, is similar to taking a short detour through Dante’s 3rd circle of hell.

In addition to that, woe to the consumer who might get a relatively new, $30 Blu-ray movie to play in it. We put in Dan In Real Life (Ok movie, but slow paced) - it proceeds to play the previews, fine. Then it seemingly locks up for a few minutes on a screen with a progress bar that says “loading”. We power down, start the process again. Briefly before the “loading” screen pops up again, it mentions that on older players it could take several minutes to load the menu. Seriously, 3 to 4 minutes later, the menu loads up.

Again, we received 10,000BC (don’t waste your time) in the mail from Blockbuster. Started to play it and we wanted to stop and start it over. I pressed the stop button, and I guess I overloaded the system as it was totally frozen. I had to press the power button for 10 seconds and start the whole process over.

Are you kidding me? This is the worst consumer experience I’ve had in a long time. Maybe I am just an impatient American, but spending 5 minutes waiting for a movie to load up, after having spent that much money on top of the line technology, is a disgrace. Sony should be ashamed that they let this product go to market.

What is it doing during this loading time? Is the Java OS loading all of its unnecessary libraries? Who allowed this to pass by QA?

So my recommendation to anyone looking to buy one of these systems is keep looking! There are more and more choices out there. The PS3 is only $50-$100 more and it loads movies much faster and has many more advanced media features (like streaming audio and video right to the PS3 from other media servers), not to mention all the games you can play on it.

Sony used to be top notch in my opinion when it came to hardware of any kind. However after this incident, I will really have to think twice before getting another Sony product!

Names like Comcast, Verizon, SBC, RoadRunner, Cox, Charter - control the vast majority of the ‘last mile’ internet running into many homes. A fact of today’s economy in the United States is that in any particular geographic area, you only have a handful of providers that can provide high-speed access to the internet. For example, in the Philadelphia region there are only 2 serious options - Verizon and Comcast.

The reason for this is that being able to provide a high speed access line to a home involves running a LOT of wire or fiber - and this has an enormous  investment in capital and technology. Only large companies have the resources available to provide these services and keep them stable. They also will buy many smaller companies that pop up - both for their technology or because it also eliminates some of the competition. Comcast has done this in our area and has largely bought many alternatives to their cable service.

Television, on the same hand, has traditionally been controlled by a handful of local companies. Largely due to copyright restrictions and content agreements, smaller non-geographically centered companies have been unable to gain access to popular content. Therefore most television providers are behemoths and there are not many smaller options.

Now in theory, we now have the internet bandwidth to have full streaming, HD television content to come right over your internet connection. There is a great deal of bandwidth involved in such a service - so the technology many companies use to bring video streams to your desktop (or other display) uses Point to Point protocol (P2P). This distributes the bandwidth across many clients so instead of having one source for the video bandwidth, it is more evenly distributed.

The Problem

Perhaps you see where this is going. Many major ISPs now offer television services over their connections. Likewise, many Television companies offer internet service as well. The prospect of a customer going to another company and purchasing a television package, using your ISP/Television Company’s internet bandwidth (that you already pay for), is a frightening prospect for them. Right now, cable programming is a cash cow. I would say the majority of television users watch a handful of channels on a regular basis, however all cable television companies force you to purchase a ‘package’ with hundreds of channels. They have largely resisted a-la-cart programming options.

What it comes down to is choice. The choice to be a smart consumer and not be tied down to a single company for any service - whether that be internet, television or phone. Of course, the companies who provide these services would love for you to have to use their other services, and in my experience many consumers do go for these ‘triple play’ packages. In their minds, getting phone, internet, and TV for $99 (Even though this is a teaser rate, and will likely go up to $140 a month or more after the initial period) is a great deal.

So what can you do?

So how can the consumer fight for this choice? The companies certainly are not going to fight for you.

1. In the United States, the FCC has some power to regular the big companies that deliver internet to your household. Some people (including myself) do not completely trust in this entity to serve the best interests of consumers.
2. Ultimately, in today’s free enterprise economic system - your wallet does the talking. If your ISP decides to throttle, delay, or otherwise impede P2P traffic - run for the hills and choose the nearest alternative. Let them know this is the reason you are leaving.
3. Finally, educate anyone willing to listen about this problem. It goes largely unnoticed by the general population, and the more people who know about this issue, the better.

So what happens when there are no other choices? Well then it may be time for a new breed of ISP to enter the landscape, but I’ll save that article for another day.

For more information or to contact your representative, see http://www.savetheinternet.com/.