3.26.2008

New Geniuses: After a few weeks in which we have only had a few names to post here, this issue we have hit the jackpot, as six members went over 1,000,000 points in various zones.

• lrmoore became the second EE member to earn six Genius certificates, as he picked up one in Hardware Firewalls.
• Two members -- hielo and b0lsc0tt -- each earned a Genius certificate in the Javascript zone.
• LeeDerbyshire earned his Genius ranking in the Exchange zone.
• Two Experts earned their second Genius certificates: keith_alabaster in Internet Security & Acceleration Server, and KCTS in Windows XP.

Milestones:

• TheLearnedOne became the second member of EE to earn more than 2,000,000 points in three zones; he actually has over 3,000,000 in VB.NET, to go along with 2,000,000 each in ASP.NET and C#.
• war1 went over 14,000,000 points overall.
• objects crossed the 10,000,000 point level overall, the fifth EE member to do so.
• RobWill has reached 5,000,000 points overall.

New Feature: Related questions: We have pushed a new feature that allows you to ask a question related to a Previously Asked Question, without the bother of having to copy and paste links and posts.

Once a question has been closed, there appears as part of the Open For Discussion description a link to "ask a related question." When you click that link, you are presented with a modified version of the Question Wizard. The title and text of the original question are there, and you must edit both. If you don't, the code behind the page will remind you; if you try again to submit the question without changing the title and text, a notice will be posted to the Moderators, who will tell you what you're doing wrong.

The question will default to the zones in which the original was asked, but you can change them; you can also add code snippets or files. When you submit the question, in addition to sending out the normal notifications to Experts based on their filters, a special notification will be sent to the participants in the original thread, including the author.

If you have questions about the system, please post them in the Community Support zone, and the Moderators will assist you.

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Over the last year or so, and maybe even before, we have been asked about making the text box -- the one you enter your questions and comments into -- larger. We have also been asked for a spellchecker (Firefox actually has one that is pretty good) and monospaced type (you now have the code snippets), but that text box thing has never seemed to make it to the front burner. So harfang, who is a few months shy of his tenth anniversary as a member of EE, figured out how to do it. Simply go to the question page, and then enter the code below into the address bar:

Nice work, harfang!

We have had a number of issues come up recently that deserve some attention.

First, we have had some members complain that they have the Premium Services, but are still seeing the advertising. The reason is always because the member has logged out of Experts Exchange, or has forgotten to click the Remember Me checkbox when they logged in last. Experts Exchange installs a cookie on your computer that tells whether you are logged in or not. If your cookie doesn't tell EE that you're logged in, EE thinks you are not logged in, and sends the ads. So if you don't want to see a popup ad, just check the box.

Second, we get an occasional email from a member telling us that he is no longer receiving the notifications. That usually happens, not because Experts Exchange isn't sending them, but because your ISP has done something (or you have done something) to block them. The first thing to check is your own anti-spam filter, and after that, to check with your ISP. The notifications come from noreply@experts-exchange.com, so make sure you have allowed that address to get through.

Finally, a reminder on how the Self-Close system works. If you have solved your own question, post the solution, and then click either the Accept As Solution or Accept And Award Points button; if you think you are not going to get an answer and want to delete the Question, post a comment saying that, and then click the Delete Question button. But do not post a comment after that.

The system is automated, so when you post a comment after you have clicked any of those buttons, the process gets stopped, and the Moderators have to get involved. It's not that we mind, but the system is there so we do not have to be.

Never play poker with guys named Brin or Page: The US government auctioned off the rights to the 700MHz spectrum auction last week, and as most people expected, Verizon came off with the lion's share of the coveted (and expensive) C block of frequencies. But what makes the auction significant is that by saying it was going to bid, Google managed to have a requirement included that cellular service providers who are using the frequencies -- Verizon, in this case -- had to make their networks available to the device a customer chooses, rather than those shoved at you by your provider. Verizon still has the right to "approve" devices, but has promised to streamline the certification process... all of which means that devices supported by Google's Android system will work.

... and never, EVER, tick of a little old lady: Retired professor Gertrude Neumark Rothschild has filed lawsuits for patent infringement against just about everyone for infringing on patents on lasers she owns. If she wins, that pension she gets from Columbia University will be chump change.

No truth to the rumor that GoDaddy will redirect every site to Danica Patrick's, though: Network Solutions -- the company that at one time was the only choice you had if you wanted to register a domain name -- has blocked the use of a domain purchased by an anti-Muslim politician in the Netherlands. One is reminded of A. J. Leibling's take.

Contributing To The Delinquency Department: We can hear the wheels turning... (Thanks, Anita!). It isn't the first time, either.

Requiem: Arthur C. Clarke.

No, this isn't one of those back-dated stock option things that everyone has been talking about -- it's even dumber: Ever since Microsoft made its unsolicited bid to buy Yahoo, Jerry Yang and his top executives have been scrambling, trying to figure out a way to avoid 1) being bought out, 2) possibly losing their jobs, and 3) being sued by shareholders because the Yahoo board of directors won't sell. A month and a half after Redmond made its offer, Yahoo has released its plan for doubling its cash flow over the next three years. The problem: well, aside from the fact that there is no evidence that Yahoo has any chance of meeting its projections, one has to wonder why, if the plan was presented in December -- before Microsoft's bid -- did the company wait until late March to tell anyone about it?

And you don't have to put up with horrible jokes from Ellen DeGeneres, either: The YouTube Video Awards for 2007 have been announced, but you can't see them in China. And they should not be confused with why we hate television.

Because some headlines are just too obvious for ex-newspaper editors to resist: Starbucks creamed.

Will someone please explain to us how annoying your customers and then backing down is good business strategy? Those wonderful folks at Sony have done it again. Now, every major manufacturer loads up its computers will all kinds of stuff customers never really want or need. You get trial software for this, that and the other thing, all at no charge, because the software companies want you to try it, like it and buy it, and they're willing to pay people like HP, Toshiba and Sony to put the trial versions on their machines. The problem is that they take up a lot of space, and some use a ton of resources. So Sony, ever the consumer-conscious company that it is (remember rootkits, exploding batteries, and PS3 shortages at Christmas?), decided it would let its customers buy a bloatware-free version as long as it came with Windows Vista Business and as long as you paid them $50 extra. Sony has since backed down on the $50 fee, but not on requiring the OS upgrade. Nice.

Product of the week: Microsoft Vista, Japanese edition.

Business 101, 2008 edition: Back in May, Warner Bros, one of the mainstays of the recording industry we're all so fond of, sued one of the lesser-known social networking sites -- Imeem -- saying that the site had allowed its members to illegally download music (what else). Ten months later, and now Warner has not only forgiven Imeem, but it will allow the site to stream music -- for free.

Sites of the week: Down for everyone? Or just me?, and just how many points can a Moderator earn for closing 134 Community Support requests?

The best news about news websites we've had in a long time: Nobody in the news business was terribly thrilled when Rupert Murdoch bought the Wall St. Journal -- except Mr. Murdoch, perhaps. But his purchase of the site has had one side effect: for whatever reason, you can now read all of its online content for free.

Download of the week: Apple's Safari for Windows, even though not everyone is happy with the way they're delivering it... as if Microsoft is going to be any more subtle when it comes to IE8.

Sign of the Apocalypse: Employers across the US were worried last week that employees would use up bandwidth watching the NCAA basketball tournament. So... buy a new TV.

I do appreciate getting email, but I'm constantly amazed at how little a lot of people know about the stuff they send to me. I'm not talking about all the spam that gets sent from zombie networks. I know that my cousin (hopefully) doesn't have a trojan on her computer that is telling me the wonders of a new mortgage or diet pill. But someone needs to slap her up the side of the head about some of the things she does. So I've made a list, just in case your cousin does these.

• Please don't forward emails as attachments. I get an envelope, containing another envelope, containing another envelope, containing... you get the idea. Since I have no idea who any of those people are, and have no idea what they have forwarded, I don't trust it, and to be honest, if I have to open more than one envelope to see the message, it gets deleted. So if I've missed out on yet another chance at having the best of all possible good things happen to me... oh, well.
• Please don't send me anything that tells me to send it to anyone else. I'm not going to. Period. AOL isn't going to pay for some terminally ill girl's operation, and Bill Gates isn't going to send me $1,000. If you have any doubts (and you should have plenty), just check snopes.com -- they're up to date on almost everything.
• Please take the time to think about whether I want to receive this stuff. We might be acquaintances, but if you know me at all, you know whether I want to read a lot of anti-this-candidate-or-president stuff. Just because you believe everything the Swift Boat Veterans said doesn't mean I'm as gullible.
• Please remember that I might get my email at my work address. My other half's company didn't monitor all of the email that came through its servers -- but there are lots of companies that do. While something you send me might not get me fired, it could well cause me some problems. So please use the brain you were born with.
• Please use the bcc field. I don't really want you deciding who my email address needs to be shared with, and I know I don't need all of the email addresses in your address book. I'm certainly not going to have my feelings hurt if I'm one of a group of "Undisclosed Recipients".

You're probably getting tired of me telling you to update your virus protection all the time, and to be careful with your personal information. Now we all have another reason to be a little paranoid: a security breach at a grocery store chain happened to customers who were using their credit and debit cards while the information was on the way to the credit card company, and on top of that, was in compliance with the standards set up by the industry.