December 05, 2006
FON Fun
I got another neat toy today. My FON router arrived. I registered as a FON user about a year ago, when I heard that they were kind of a "Socialist's free Wi-Fi." I hadn't paid them much attention though, as I had decided to load a different firmware on my Linksys Wireless-G(Linux) router. A little over a week ago, FON sent me an email saying that I was eligible for a free router for some reason. Free as in free, no shipping and handling, no nothing. I immediately signed up.
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| The complete kit |
I wasn't really expecting the router for months. Imagine my surprise when it came today. It's pretty slick-looking. It comes with an ethernet cable, power supply, and a comprehensive manual, as well as a pretty nice box. It looks good enough to sell in any retail store that sells routers from companies like Linksys -- I certainly think that they should market it to such places. Plus, now that I have a registered access point, I can use other access points for FREE. And free is a very good price.
It works pretty well, too. It shows up as two access point, a "Public" (for other FON users, no security, no ability to configure), and a "Private" (encrypted with a key printed on the bottom of the router, and very slightly configurable). I was happy to see that they use 192.168.10.x as the default network, to prevent troubles with just about every other router in the world, which uses 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x. That should keep people from getting circular routes and not being able to connect to the internet with it. As a device, it just "works." I would say that my biggest concern with it is heat...after being on for only a half hour, the case is already very warm to the touch (far more so than my regular access point). Only time will tell if the router burns my house down...
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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Stealing the Network
I first bumped into the Stealing the Network series when reading the exploits of Joe Grand, one of the book's many hacker authors.
The 'Stealing the ...' series of books follows a rather disparate group of computer hackers as they help a former NSA spook (many of them unwittingly) gather the money he needs to retire.
The stories themselves are not fantastic fiction. The writing is uneven and choppy, the characters are stereotypical and not very well thought-out. What is fascinating about this book series is the technical accuracy of the exploits (at some points *too* accurate, with screen shots and step-by-step instructions).
It's a great series to read if you're a system administrator, or just getting into the wonderful field of computer security.
Rated 
by reid
on March 06, 2011
by reid
on March 06, 2011
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Close to the Machine
Ellen Ullman is one of those authors that somehow avoided my radar. Until now...
Close to the Machine is less a book than a collection of loosely related personal anecdotes from Ellen's time as a very rare thing -- a successful female bisexual independent computer programming consultant.
In the course of her work and relationship life, she learns hard lessons about programming, running a business, being lonely, and loving the wrong people. I found it particularly poignant being a crypto-nerd with difficult times in relationships and a more-or-less NDA'd, secret work life.
This book is a must-read for anyone into running their own business, programming, or anyone dating a person that is a business-a-holic or programmer.
Rated 
by reid
on November 23, 2009
by reid
on November 23, 2009
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The Long Trip Home
I had the joy of dining with the author in Florida. We went to a little Brazilian BBQ where he spoke with our waitstaff in (what I can only assume was) flawless Portugese.
Brian Wyllie spent 1969-1971 living in Brazil working for the Peace Corps. His recent book outlines his trip back to the United States via Bolivia, Peru, and the Carribean chain, by way of bus, train, and sailboat. The format comes spattered with observations from the modern day, and makes me think, "this must be what John McPhee's journal looks like."
The trip sounded like a fantastic one, but I was left wanting more detail...where did the gun (being snuck through customs in a variety of places, no doubt) come from? And how did Geneve's hair smell? Alas, we'll have to wait for another book to find the answers.
Rated by reid
on April 16, 2009
by reid
on April 16, 2009