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Daily Installment of Coffee Joe, By Jim O'Connor

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After we finished eating, she said it was time to go to work, so she showed me around. On the surface, it looked like your normal restaurant. Then we went into the walk in freezer. After we were both inside, she told me to close the door. After I did, she moved a shelf out of the way of a trap door that led into a basement. We both started down.

Damn, this place was like a warehouse. They have isles and isles of stuff I hadn't seen in years. Ahsu looked at me and she could tell that I was impressed.

"How did you bring all of this in here?" I asked. She said, "Most of it came in trucks." She told me that it seemed like quite a bit, but when you figure how much stuff they moved, it really wasn't much at all.

I finally realized the scope of the operation so I asked Ahsu how they were able to hide all of the profits. She said that would have to remain a secret, at least for now.

I saw a lot of computer parts and electronics along with the food items. So I asked her were she wanted me to work from. She said, "During most of the day, You should be upstairs if at all possible because you never know when an inspector would show up, even if only for a meal. We don't want to take any chances that someone will ask to see you and you are not here." I told her that would be fine.

We headed back upstairs. I asked, "Are all of the employees in on the big secret?" She said "you will know who is and isn't soon enough. But for now, don't talk to anyone about your real job here."

I told her that I would need an isolated computer to work on because when the FCC does down loads, they often check to see if you are using authorized software. She really didn't understand all of that too well, but she told me just take what I need from the stock room down stairs. She also said to do as much work as possible in the maintenance room in the back. She warned me "one thing is for sure. I don't want anything to be operational, unless you are right there. Password protect it, hide it. Do what ever it takes, but I don't even want one of the other employees to find a working machine that has secret software on it.

My plan was to build a computer that would have the normal communications ports, but to simulate the authorized software just in case someone did a down load while I had it on line. This was going to be a very tricky task. If anyone stumbled on to what this could actually do, the whole operation would be in jeopardy. I explained this to Ahsu, but she only said, "I know you won't blow it. Do what you need to. That's why you're here."

Verizon: Stupid, Stupid, Stupid

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I know that Forrest Gump said “Stupid is as stupid does,” but there’s really no other word for what Verizon is doing with its much-heralded launch of YouTube video on cellphones. I mean, really. How much stupider could this get? The answer, to paraphrase Nigel Tufnel in Spinal Tap, is none — none stupider. Fred Wilson sums it up in a single word: Lame. In fact, this deal is right off the lame-o-meter. How do I lame-ify thee? Let me count the ways.



Watching video clips on your cellphone would be great, right? Except that Verizon will only let you watch them if you subscribe to a monthly service called VCast. And YouTube is great because of all the cool videos on there, right? Except that Verizon will select some for you to watch, rather than letting you do the selecting. As Rob Pegoraro notes in the Washington Post, this is just reproducing the broken cable model on a cellphone.

Howard Lindzon says that Verizon’s new slogan should be “We uncool your brand,” which is both hilarious and right on the money. If this is a sign of the kind of crap Google is going to do now that it owns YouTube, then that $1.6-billion in stock is going to get obliterated pretty quickly. Michael Parekh says that “incumbent businesses keep adopting the same myopic, warped business strategies that failed the last time around,” and my friend Mark Evans has some thoughts as well.

Update:



On a somewhat related note, I came across a post from David Cohen of Colorado Startups (hat tip to Leigh Himel of Oponia) about a failed startup he was involved in called iContact, which tried to create a social-networking platform for mobile phones. Here’s what he had to say in part:

The mobile industry is full of pitfalls. If you don’t have connections to cellular operators, you’ll literally need to buy them just to get a shot. It’s an old boys club and the whole industry is just trying to keep control of the closed system they’ve put together.

Open APIs are really only open to partners, revenue shares feel like hostage situations, and network aware or location based applications sit in queues waiting for “approval” which is a euphemism for “hell to freeze over.”

Virus Update from Symantec

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Trojan.Wuwo is a Trojan horse that drops more malware on to the compromised computer.



Trojan.Zefarch!gen is a heuristic detection used to detect threats associated with the Trojan.Zefarch family.

And Now, a Word from Our Sponsor

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It is fun building your own store. Fun, Fun, Fun.

You can set items to allow customers to Make an Offer, after publish the web pages, the Item Description, will contain the Make Offer button. The customer will send you an email and the subject will have the Store Name, Item Name, Asking Price. The customer only needs to fill out the 'Offer' they will make.

You can change the status of everything in the store with on click. I use this often for Kim's Books to mark everything Sold.

Generate big bucks!

Our Daily Bit of the U. S. Constitution. Law Makers Ignore This Like Always

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Amendment XIII

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.


Amendment XIV

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for t he choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.

Will Fans Still Love Hulu If it's Not Free?

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By Jefferson Graham

Hulu's recent billion-video milestone validates the idea that people will actually watch long-form programming online. Now, Hulu says it will explore a tiered pricing structure, and many are betting that Hulu will soon be brought to web-connected devices such as TVs and Blu-ray players. But will its fans still love Hulu if it's not free?

Current Activity Reported by the US-CERT

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Oracle Releases Security Alert for WebLogic Server Vulnerability

Oracle has released a security alert to address a vulnerability in Oracle WebLogic Server. Exploitation of this vulnerability may allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary commands on an affected system.

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review the Oracle security alert and apply any necessary updates to help mitigate the risks.