GNOMEREPORT: Happy Thanksgiving!

Since we're taking a break on Turkey day (which happens tomorrow for all you non-American types), I'm giving you the obligatory "thankful" speech this evening. White meat wasn't exactly forbidden in our family, but Dad's dislike for anything plucked definitely put a damper on our table spread. I'll be spending my time with close friends out here in Los Angeles this year - with Bob (our illustrious editor) in charge of the napkins, Jason (our operations manager) overseeing all deviled egg activities, and Shaye (our sales coordinator) making certain that all wine goblets stay filled. We've been told that there will be plenty of cranberry goop present, but I tend to avoid foods that retain their container shape after being exhumed. Pickles never have that problem, nor do black olives - which are perfect when pushed onto and eaten from the tips of your fingers. Stuffing my stomach silly isn't on the agenda, though. I'm still a little gun-shy from last week's undercooked gut-blasts. Which reminds me: I have to clean the bathrooms before I have a couple of the stove jockeys over tomorrow. Did you know that low-flow toilets wind up wasting more water than the "regular" ones? True.

So, getting back to the spirit of this familiar holiday... I'm thrilled to see that 2003 is coming to a close. It's been a year of dramatic ups and downs, with life nearly doing a complete 180 from where it was in January - give or take a few degrees. My smile is definitely a lot brighter than it has been in a long while (thanks in no part to those useless night-slapped teeth whitening strips). And as far as my blessings are concerned, I'm certain that sanity is sitting at the top of the list - followed closely thereafter by "health" and "freezer full of coffee." Why, without this straightjacket, I never would have pulled through the month of October 90% unscathed. Someone gave it to me last year as a gag gift, hoping that it would help me ward off door-to-door candy peddlers. Guess I should take it off before I have company over? Let me tell ya, it's a pain in the neck to 'hunt and peck' these reports with a lip-gripped pencil having to tap the keys. Don't get too worried about me, though - I've got a great network of friends, real-life and virtual. They'd scratch my back even when it didn't itch.

When asked for a wish list last month, I found it difficult to compile. There was enough old junk lying around here to help fund my latest upgrade cycle. Curious? I thought about: a Nomad Zen 2.0 60GB; Sony Clie UX50; Atech Flash PRO 9 USB 2.0 9-In-1 Reader; Canon PowerShot G5; Samsung SyncMaster 213T; ATI Radeon 9800 XT; Intellimouse Explorer 4.0; Linksys Wireless-G Router; IBM ThinkPad R40; and a living, breathing Doozer. Some of these, I own. Others, not so much. Methinks a new video card will be the next digital doohickey that'll slip into Storm Shadow. Unfortunately, that might not happen for a while. I've gotta pump up my pocketbook to overwhelm a stocking or two. And if you were wondering what little trinkets I'd recommend for the geeks in your world, that catalog is forthcoming. Let's get past tomorrow first, eh? Then we'll deck the walls with all things jolly. I'll be Gnome for Christmas; you can count on me. Hanukkah Harry might even swing by for a snack, with the Holiday Armadillo (and Superman) in tow. Until then, please accept Lockergnome's non-denominational wishes for a happy and fulfilling Thanksgiving day - even if you don't live in the United States of America.

Digitally Yours,
Chris Pirillo

GNEWBIE GNOOK: What's the Difference? I'm Drawing a Blank!

Ken Colburn of Data Doctors answers Bill, who asks:

Q: I noticed that there are two different types of blank CDs on the market: data & music. Is there any real difference and, if so, would the quality of the sound suffer by burning a music CD on a blank data CD?

A: The debate about blank CD quality and how to determine the best disks has been raging since the concept of burning your own CDs was introduced.

Blank CDs that are labeled as "music" disks are specifically intended for use with consumer, stand-alone audio CD recorders. If you make your disks on a standard computer CD burner, then there is no need to be concerned with what the disk has been labeled. My understanding is that the RIAA worked with manufacturers of stand alone, audio only CD recorders to create this special type of disk so that it could get a small piece of every 'music' CD sold.

Anyone that has burned any quantity of CDs has likely noticed that certain disks seem to last longer or take more abuse than others. There is no way to tell which disks are going to work better for you because there are so many variables, including your CD burner, the disks' manufacturing process, the dye formulation and, of course, how you care for your disks.

Every CD/R and CD/RW has specific information encoded in the 'pre-groove' section of the disk that includes the manufacturer, the dye formulation, Absolute Time In Pre-Groove (ATIP), certified writing speed, and actual time available on the disk. Much of this information can be helpful, not from a specific technical standpoint, but from the standpoint of what seems to be working well for you. Just because a big name brand is stamped on the label of a blank disk, it does not mean that it was actually manufactured by that company. A free download called 'CDR Media Code Identifier' allows you to place any blank media in your burner and quickly view some of the pre-groove information.

When you find disks that you feel are working better for your use, then you can look at specific things like the actual manufacturer or type of dye used to help make future selections.

The folks at CD Media World have lots of technical data about CD media and have posted some extensive test results on various manufacturers of blank media. According to their various tests, Imation, TDK, Sony, Kodak, Ricoh Premium and Phillips Gold and Silver disks all scored well.

They also list actual factories that scored poorly in their tests that include Ritek and Fornet (this is what will appear in the 'Disk Manufacturer' section of the CDR Media Code Identifier program).

CD Media World echoes the same sentiment that I have preached for years when it comes to technology: never buy the lowest priced items!

In the case of blank CDs, steer clear of those cheap no-name bulk CD offers unless you don't care about how long the disk will last. And don't pay extra for 'audio' CDs for your computer's CD burner!

NEWS: Dude! You're Getting a Runaround!

By The Farmer in the Dell

Dell has pulled another tech support boner that will affect a LOT of people. First they set up a phone bank in India that is staffed with people who seem more interested in transferring callers than helping them with their problems, and now they've instituted a policy that keeps us from educating customers and helping them resolve a major problem - spyware.

According to the policy that's been recently released to the support folks, we can no longer mention 'spyware' to a caller, get them to visit a site like doxdesk.com to see if they have parasites installed, or recommend a spyware removal program. If a caller has any problems that might be spyware-related (home page hijacked, pop-ups, slow connections, PCs that start dialing out by themselves, etc.), we can only refer them to their ISP for help.

The rationale behind this? Spyware removal programs might violate the license agreement of another program they have installed (Kazaa, iMesh, etc.) and Dell doesn't want to be responsible for that. Never mind that SpyBot and Ad-Aware tell you that this is a possibility when you run them, Dell will not let us tell people about the programs or discuss the ramifications with the callers.

I brought up the issue of Dell asking a user to accept a license agreement they have never read when I first saw it in Lockergnome (9/2/2003 Gnome Report), and after forwarding the information to 3 supervisors and discussing it with them, there is still no official resolution. I have tried to get approval to help callers uninstall the crap that various file sharing programs install, and have been told that we cannot support that. And now we are being told that even if we know what the problem is, we cannot tell callers what that problem is or how to fix it.

My solution? I am going to refer people to my little site as long as I am still doing (what passes for) support at the call center - but that will not be for much longer. I can tolerate the micro-management of the call center if I can actually help people, but it is fast becoming a blame game where we have to refer people to someone else whether they will be able to help or not.

And when the ISP refers people back to us because the Internet connection is okay, the customer will be the big loser since we can't even tell them what their problem is.

Dude! You're getting a runaround! Here's a recent office memo that I think you'll all get a kick out of. Enjoy!

Good morning all:

The below e-mail was communicated to the floor yesterday. I have agents flooding me with questions on how they are supposed to handle these types of issues. We will probably want to get something out to the floor fairly quickly on what they should do with these types of calls. Are we not supposed to mention it at all? If we tell them to go to google or dogpile and search for spyware are we not then endorsing those browsers? I can't find any information on support.dell.com or delltech on this issue. Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks,
Piett

Subject: Spyware: What we can say to the customer

Dell does not support or endorse the use of spyware removal programs.

NOTICE:
Use of spyware removal software may conflict with user license agreements of other applications installed on your system. Please consult your user license agreements for further information. Dell does not endorse the use of spyware removal software and cannot provide support on these products.

This means we do not take callers to download.com or doxdesk.com, nor do we recommend spyware removal programs, nor do we advise callers on the use of spyware removal programs. This includes using phrases "We don't support the removal of spyware, but I use... "

Please reply to this e-mail to indicate that you have read and understand this information.

Thanks,
Vader

QUIZ: Test Your Digital IQ

MSNBC has a pretty interesting Test Your Digital IQ quiz online. In 62 questions, it will gauge how savvy you are with today's high-tech gadgetry and suchlike in comparison with other people who have taken the test. Curious thing, though: there's no "are you a Lockergnome subscriber?" question. Ah, I'm sure Microsoft doesn't even know who we are. The nerve! As long as you know who we are, though, we'll be happy!

(Thanks to kottke.org for tipping us off to the link!)

ARCADE: Topsy Turvy

http://lockergnome.com/arcade/games/topsy-turvy.phtml

Anyone had the chance to play in Lockergnome's Arcade section, yet? It's got a nice lineup of games, but I think my favorite so far is Topsy Turvy. It's like a rounder (though not gentler), Tetris. Sort of. Picture yourself inside of a jumbo gumball machine. You've got to sort the gumballs by color, line them up, and - ah, good! You're doing well. What's this? Oh, did I mention that the whole gumball machine tumbles over, scattering your hard work like a kindergartner in a pottery shop? I know, I know. But did I mention that it's also FUN? Go on, try it. You'll like it! [Fogarty]

DOWNLOAD: HijackThis v1.97.5

• [153K]
• Win98/2k/XP
• FREE
• Screenshot
• Update

http://www.mywebattack.com/gnomeapp.php?id=106738

{Investigate browser add-ons} HijackThis is a tool that lists all installed browser add-ons, buttons, and startup items and allows you to inspect them and optionally remove selected items. The program can create a backup of your original settings and also ignore selected items. Additional features include a simple list of all startup items, default start page, online updates and more. Intended for advanced users.

DOWNLOAD: Secure XP v1.0

• XP
• Trial

http://go.lockergnome.com/187

{Security} Secure XP by Waresoft Software provides (password protected) access to various settings that allow you to make your XP computer more secure in a multi-user environment by applying either standard XP security options or registry tweaks. It allows you set restrictions for Active Desktop, Control Panel, Display, Desktop and Explorer, Login and Authentication, and more. The interface combines more than 100 XP settings in categorized tabs for easy access. Secure XP does not need to be running to maintain the restrictions. An Undo option is provided via XP System restore. This trial is for only 7 days.

DOWNLOAD: Mixx v1.1

• [7.5M]
• Win9x/2k/XP
• FREE

http://mixxx.sourceforge.net/

{Digital sound library manager} I'm as far as a person can get from becoming a DJ and this program is surprisingly easy for me to use. Load two songs into the channels. On the right are the controls for one channel and on the left are the controls for the other channel. Randomly, I adjust the switches to do various things and the output is interesting. The program can use customer or commercial MIDI controllers for input. It supports wav-based audio, OGG Vorbis, and mp3 for input. Put the mouse pointer over a knob or any other part of the controls and a tooltip pops up. Skin lovers have a choice of three skins and the option to create their own. The interface is less complicated than other mixer programs and the Traditional skin is a cool cat. Get down, kids! [Meryl]

DOWNLOAD: ActiveWords

• [3.3M]
• Win9x/2k/XP
• Trial

http://www.activewords.com/lockergnomeplusdl.html

{System simplification} Turn words into actions from any program. Type "close" followed by the ActiveWords key (F8 is the default) and the active program closes. Type "write"+F8 and ActiveWords opens or switches you to your already opened word processor. You can add more commands to tell your computer what to do without navigating the interface. The folks behind ActiveWords SE are giving Gnomies a gift for those who open it before January 10, 2004, a *free* license to their ActiveWords SE product for all Lockergnome readers during the Holidays. That's free, zero cost, zilch, nada, nothing, complimentary, gratis, made available without charge. If you decide you like it and want more features, ActiveWords PLUS is available at a special 20% discount to Lockergnome readers!

FAVORITE: BlogStreet's RSS Ecosystem

http://www.blogstreet.com/rssecosystem.html

{Toolbox of RSS goodies} Yowzaa! It has over 26,000 feeds! I went to look for my blog in the RSS directory and it took a lot of >> to go from M to Me. Ah, there it is. Click on the little icon (the feller with a yellow, boxy body and a red head) to get a profile of the blog including its neighborhood, books mentioned, latest RSS feeds, ranking (only 2200 ­ pooh), and photo (boy, my face is very blank). If your favorite blog(s) don't have an RSS feed, generate one in the generator. RSS Panel and RSS Publisher require a free login ID. Both provide customization features. The RSS 2 Mobile link enables you to read RSS feeds on a WAP-enabled mobile phone. Info Aggregator sends RSS feeds to your e-mail box. It requires free registration so you can get an rss.blogstreet.com e-mail address for the feed-mails. Go RSS crazy. [Meryl]