I upgraded my network connection to Gigabit Ethernet and ran some tests which revealed that I had NO speed increase going from 100-mbit ethernet to 1000-mbit ethernet – both came in at 8MB/s. My tests involved timing the download of a large file from a linux server sitting next to the switch. I plugged in my Mac laptop, and the file flew across at 50MB/s. I asked one of my networking friends, and he pointed me to this article. It turns out that Vista purposely caps network traffic because there is a chance that the network traffic might make your audio playback skip if you have a really slow computer. I thought it was too stupid to be the culprit, but I tried it out. Sure enough…
Red – before registry tweaks to turn off audio throttlling service
Green – After following instructions in the link
Yellow – Theoretical Maximum
Personal, Software
bandwidth, gige, networking, vista
I was playing around with the Tamper Data plugin for firefox which lets you monitor traffic while loading webpages. I was playing around on gmail and quickly noticed somthing which I thought was a bit disturbing. It seems that gmail monitors where your mouse is and if the gmail window is in focus or not — and constantly is sending state changes back to google. I suppose that by using google, you agree to some level of monitoring for targeted advertising — but monitoring where I mover the mouse and how often I have gmail in the foreground seems a bit totally creapy. All a bit too big brother if you ask me.
POSTDATA=count=1&req0_type=i&req0_time=293131&req0_evtype=mousemove
POSTDATA=count=1&req0_type=cf&req0_focused=1
POSTDATA=count=1&req0_type=cf&req0_focused=0
Personal
evil, gmail, mouse tracking
I picked up a 1940s Hobart Meat Slicer from some salvage store in Berkeley for $120 last week. It was a mess so I’m the process of stripping it all the way down and restoring it. Part of the process is to remove rust from various parts, and to that end, I’ve fabricated a rebar based de-rusting electrolysis setup based on information from here. I’m waiting for the washing soda (used as electrolyte) to come in on Thursday, but it looks kinda neat how it’s been setup. I got 6AWG wire, which is overkill (for use up to 50A) but it adds to that industrial look that I like
Electronics, Personal
electrolysis, hobart, meast slicer, restoration, rust
So I’ve not posted in awhile, and I’m not going to try to play catch-up, but I’ll apprise whoever is reading this of some stuff that’s on my mind. First off, why do people fear using real tools to get a job done. Like what’s the point of a little duster when you can use a leaf blower. Cleaned out my computer case in 2 seconds and didn’t destroy the ozone or cause pollution.
Quick note that I have a talk at the Body Sensor Network conference last week. It went really well, and I met some cool people.
I’m going to be putting together some demos and new material in regards to my research shortly. I’m going to be creating a fork of the development effort to look into potential spin-off possibilities. I’m getting a license from the university for my code, and part of my royaltee payments will go back to me — funny how that works. I also migrated to Altium Designer, and now, Cadsoft Eagle looks like microsoft Paint. Bought year’s license for $130 given that I’m a student, normal price is $14,000. And I hate to say it, but after using it for some time, I think that’s a reasonable price given what it offers. The lab is coming together, and I hope to have a dedicated office space in the next 6 months. Anyhow, stay tuned for some updates.
Reza
HealthMonitor, Personal