phantomdata's Profile

One other suggestion is to ask his friends - they'll usually have a good idea of what he's been eying and should be pretty good at guiding you to something unexpected that he'll love. A geeky surprise is always better than getting something that you know is coming. More than likely, his friends will also be able to guide you to a specific model and give you purchasing advice - so that you don't end up, say, purchasing a terrible NAS that he'll hate for years.

Bonus tip; if you're confused about something be very wary about asking salesmen at big chain stores. They often either don't know what they're talking about or are just looking for a quick buck. I can't begin to count the number of times that I've stepped in to correct one and guide a non-techy in purchasing something. My favorite instance of this was when I was standing in line behind someone purchasing a Wii for their kid (hey, this one applies to kid purchases as well as lovers!). The salesdroid started ringing her up but stopped short; "Oh, would you like to insure this Wii's MegaPixels? It's only $xx.xx.". As the woman was pondering her response I couldn't resist but chime in with "What megapixels? Should you ask her if she'd like her blinker fluid changed as well?". Suffice it to say, after I got done explaining what megapixels were, she declined purchasing the insurance for a unit of measurement that she had never heard of before. Seriously,I think that they were trying to charge her $50 for this.

Bonus tip 2: Check with Newegg.com. If you're looking for something like a NAS device or a new monitor, newegg.com will help steer you in the right direction with an easy to use interface and wonderful customer reviews. That way, rather than trusting a salesman or praying that the random box you picked up is good - you can rely on all of the people before you tell you how well the device performs. You can even sort search requests by customer ratings - ensuring that you only end up looking at quality products, instead of duds.

Wow. I have to wonder what kind of TV they were using. My 32" LCD uses a large 139W or so when running, but less than a watt while in "standby". I wonder what they were using that would pull only 49W while on...

Meh. When I went around with my Kill-A-Watt I was actually surprised at how much power I wasn't using. My PS2 (which doubles as a DVD player) uses less than a watt (the lowest measurement resolution on the Kill-A-Watt) when on "standby" and my speaker setup has a hard-power switch that pulls nothing.

I just think that there are better places to concentrate your energy than a few watts (which are so inconsequential that the power company bills you in cents per thousands of them).

Zekko, What you're doing is illegal if you're living in the good ole' USA. Not that I care, of course, but you might want to google about what can happen to you for "stealing" wi-fi access. Personally, I think people stupid enough to have open-APs should get what's coming at them... but such is America. Even telling them about it could constitute "hacking" into their network and "unauthorized usage". Bleh.

I pay $40/m for Citescape wireless (somewhere circa microwave) access here in MN. Quite a nice price and I live in the boondocks. I shudder for the people using dial-up. Really, is it a question of cost (for those of us < 45yrs old) or is it a question of availability? W/o Citescape I'd be SOL.

taracakes, you can probably find a geek in your area (or even circle of friends) who'd be more than willing to take those extra cables off your hands.

I'm not really sure about wireless being greener. You still need miles of cable going to the WISP and you still need boxes in your home for both the wireless transceiver and your wireless router (if we're going all the way). Then you still need cables in between the wireless router and the wireless transceiver. All you're really making un-necessary is the "last mile" in between your house and the nearest trunk. Oh, and the CAT-5 from your router to your computer. More than likely, the CAT-5 connecting the wireless transceiver to your wireless router will be MORE than what would have been required to use existing cable or POTS wiring.

Now, your point about a community wireless network is an interesting one. I want to emphasize "community", not "one big government-ran free ISP" because that scares the bejeezus out of me (both on the Big Brother level, and the "oh my god the government sucks at everything" commercial level). A community network would be (more than likely) ran more efficiently and use existing infrastructure and hardware. There's no need for Clearwire to build a new datacenter in your neighborhood, because Joe the neighborhood geek's probably already got one in his basement. Joe and his compatriot geeks would probably seek the most efficient and helpful mediums available, instead of seeking the most profitable like most big telcos and WISPs. Also, a community oriented system would allow people like taracakes to donate her unused hardware to help make everything more economical.

The best part about a community ISP, to me? It's not being green. It's allowing the community to get involved in something that's typically a closed-doors monopoly affair. It would certainly be an interesting experiment.