technological disappointments

[cellio]

I don't care about iPhone at all, but the announcement of AppleTV caught my interest. I'd probably pay $300 for a device that lets me dump the cable service (depending on what content costs). I don't watch a lot of TV but I don't want to watch what I do watch on my computer; this fills a real need for me. Alas, it appears (from Apple's site) that my plain old TV, bought about five years ago, can't talk to this new box; they use the words "widescreen" and "enhanced definition", neither of which I think applies to my TV (assuming "widescreen" means 16:9 instead of the standard 4:3 aspect ratio -- why that should make a difference when they could just letterbox is beyond me). They can make an allowance for wired networks but not for recent-but-not-current TVs? Bummer.

Spam subject line of the day: "mollusk suffrage". On consideration, giving them the vote probably wouldn't make things worse.

I cleaned out my spam traps last night; the problem has definitely gotten worse recently. There's more spam and the distribution (or performance of various filters) has changed:

My filters, in order of firing, are:

• Pobox bounce: 200 messages/day (these generate unknown-address notices)
• Pobox trap: about 75 messages/day
• Procmail 1 (SpamAssassin score 7+ and a few specific targets): about 100 messages/day
• Procmail 2 (aka "maybe spam"; gets about 5% false positives): about 10 messages/day

I haven't been keeping careful records, but I think about 15-20 messages/day get through all that to my inbox.

Gak. That's about 400 pieces of spam per day aimed at my mailbox, of which about a third are getting through to my mail host. (I want this stuff to be caught as far upstream as possible.) Pobox used to catch a higher proportion; in addition, the ratio of Pobox bounce:trap used to be about 5:1, not the current ~3:1. I can't say that this is a Pobox degradation, though, as it wasn't long ago that I got about 100 pieces of spam a day, total. Pobox is presumably trapping everything it used to and a good deal more, but the spammers have gotten more clever. (I should write a procmail rule to catch any message that begins with an image.) I used to browse the traps about once a week looking for legitimate mail, but even with search that's getting impractical. I no longer inspect the bounce trap at all.

The spammers have caused email reliability to revert to that of the UUCP days, when there was a chance that your legitimate message just plain never got there. Thanks, guys.

Comments

[sui66iy.livejournal.com]

Re: Apple TV. An alternative you might consider is buying a video iPod. Apple sells a cradle with an s-video and line-out connection, so you can put your iPod in the cradle and connect it right to your T.V. It's both pricier and less convenient than the Apple TV (you have to sync via USB), but, on the other hand, it's also a portable video device and an iPod. There's also a remote control for the iPod cradle, but it's really only good for volume and pausing. It won't let you select shows.

I can attest that it's nicer to leave the cradle hooked up to the TV than to be constantly plugging in a laptop to your TV. And, frankly, I don't intend to move to HD until a variety of components get cheaper, so I won't be getting an Apple TV either.

[cellio]

You've given me an idea. I have a laptop (an iBook), and at least as a first attempt I wouldn't object at all to hooking it up to the TV. (It's not my main machine, so it's rarely in use when I'm at home except for maintenance. I use it for mobility, not primary access.) The only relevant connectors I see are USB and Firewire (and, well, network :-) ), so it's obvious I have to go through some interface to get to my TV. How do you plug your laptop into your TV?

use the video connector

[(Anonymous)]

Most iBooks have a video out connection of some sort. It's usually DVI, mini-DVI or mini-VGA, which looks like a sort of fat USB connector. There's a little dongle that attaches to the connector and has a composite video out. If one didn't come with the laptop, the Apple store can provide you with one for about $20.

Re: use the video connector

[brokengoose.livejournal.com]

The parent post was me. I wasn't logged in.

This is probably the connector that you want (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=722C6629&nplm=M9109G%2FA), but I'd visit the store to be certain. On my three-year-old 12" iBook, the video connector is beside the headphone connector on the left side of the machine.

Re: use the video connector

[cellio]

Thanks! Duh; I mistook that for a Firewire connector. (Having nothing that uses Firewire, I didn't notice by connection failure...) I see now that it is different from the other non-USB connector on the side of the machine.

[sui66iy.livejournal.com]

I think you want this (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/6884002/wo/IA2WGkz12mPn2xRv0fvKaslYXDk/1.0.21.1.0.8.25.7.11.0.3). (I have a Powerbook, so it has an s-video port.)