Service Provider Journal

Undeletable email attachments

Has anyone else experienced this: spam with attachments that can't be deleted by Windows in the ordinary fashion, because they're "in use" by another program? These are PNG files according to the two PCs of mine where they've been received. I was able to delete them using a free program called MoveOnBoot, but it's a pain to have to delete them by rebooting a computer. Are these PNGs some new kind of spyware? What processes are they launching? I can't tell.

Yes, Web apps suck at service

One thing I love about downturns is it forces journalists and bloggers to focus on what needs improvment, rather than simply riding the bubbles of hype. Here's an example: Web Apps Suck at Service.

DNS as newest censorship device?

From GigaOM:

While he says he supports letting a carrier supply a safe DNS service, he’s opposed to blocking the ability to reach DNS servers other than those the carriers are running. “Sometimes a compromise lets you move on,” he says. “Sometimes it’s the first step down a slippery slope.”

Silicon Valley needs to rescue house.gov

house.gov remains inaccessible to millions tonight as they try to figure out what their government is doing on the worst day in Wall Street history.

I think it's the patriotic duty of Silicon Valley, including Google, hosting providers such as Rackspace, and ISPs, to get house.gov back on its feet by tomorrow morning. What could be more important than letting the American people know what their government is doing on this day of days?

Beyond the woes of house.gov, I'm disappointed that news accounts of the defeat of HR 3997, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, don't even refer to the bill by name or number, instead simply calling it the "bailout bill." (And that's a bit of a misnomer itself.) The roll call of who voted yea or nay is here, but in this day of information at your fingertips, it should be a Google Maps mashup, showing the yeas and nays by Congressional district, readily viewable the same way the result of a presidential election is available.

This blog is five years old today

Of course, I was blogging before that, using Userland's Radio service, but all that's long gone from the Web.

Up or down: The game

I wonder how long it will be before somebody figures out a way to game downforeveryoneorjustme.com. Maybe there will be a followup story to this one in the New York Times when that day arrives.

Comcast's terms of disservice

The folks at Comcast once again prove they're out to lose customers. Let's hope they're successful.

InfoWorld hangs in there, online

Congratulations to InfoWorld for making a successful transition from print to online. Some of the editorial nowadays strikes me as a little silly (the recent April Fools stuff fell flat for me) but it's great that the InfoWorld editorial brand lives on in this new age.

Hotmail is dropping inbound emails

Paul Venezia writes:

"Microsoft is simply deleting legitimate emails."

I can agree with this. As part of some calendar interoperability testing, I recently established a new Hotmail account. Sometimes, a confirmation email being sent to my account simply never arrives. Most of the time, it goes into the junk mail folder. But other times, the mail never shows up. Don't use Hotmail if you expect every email sent to you to get through Microsoft's filters, because some of them won't get through.

We need a list of housing complexes that provide good Internet access

George Ou writes:

"I live in one of these draconian housing complexes that force us to pay for bundled inferior analog cable service even though I don't use it.  The FCC has ruled against these types of exclusive contracts but I don't think that can overturn my current situation."

Here's an idea. Someone should start a list of those housing complexes who provide good service. Then, those complexes that aren't on the list will, by implication, have work to do.