Month: August 2003

EPRI.  Power outages and other power quality disturbances are costing the U.S. economy more than $119 billion annually, according to a recently released study sponsored by EPRI’s Consortium for Electric Infrastructure to Support a Digital Society (CEIDS). Current estimates to fix the system are between $50 and $100 b, in addition to the $3 b… Continue reading EPRI

Nice Brew But No Wi-Fi Clue at Local Coffeehouses. Last Saturday when Monique and I were running errands (okay she was running them and I was driving the car) we stopped into a little strip mall. She went to get some invitations for a party and I, as always, went reconnoitering for Wi-Fi. I breezed… Continue reading Nice Brew But No Wi-Fi Clue at Local Coffeehouses

Experts Warned of Weak Power Grid. Scientists and engineers have been predicting since well before Sept. 11 that an aging grid riddled with threadbare links and plagued by chronic shortages was headed for trouble. Little has been done, and sure enough, they were right. “We're trying to build a 21st-century electric marketplace on top of… Continue reading Experts Warned of Weak Power Grid

Experts Asking Why Problems Spread So Far. The power collapse apparently began with a failure in the Midwest that cascaded into Canada, power industry officials said. By Matthew L. Wald, Richard PerÉz-peÑa and Neela Banerjee. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

ISPs On Frontline of Power Outage. ISPs Among First to Detect, React to Outage: “Throughout the United States, ISPs and network operators were among the first to detect an infrastructure problem thanks to sophisticated monitoring systems. In addition to a New York drop, carriers saw traffic elsewhere surge as users logged onto news sites.  [beSpacific]

GAO Report Documents IT Vulnerabilities of US Attorneys' Network. A GAO report released August 12 determined that the Executive Office for the U.S. Attorneys has serious security issues associated with the administration of IT systems, with specific concerns detailing the operation of a virtual private network (VPN) linking the 93 U.S. Attorney offices located throughout the… Continue reading GAO Report Documents IT Vulnerabilities of US Attorneys' Network

New World Factbook Availabile Online. From the CIA press release, the announcement about the availability of The World Factbook 2003: “This reference work provides a snapshot, as of 1 January 2003, of wide-ranging, hard-to-locate information about the background, geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The… Continue reading New World Factbook Availabile Online

OK, how many 16-year-olds do you know who are server experts and who are helping run a big-city school system's IT department? Brian Desmond fits the bill.  [The Scobleizer Weblog]

Loren, yeah, the new OrderPad app for Tablet PCs sure looks like it's exactly what many vertical markets need.  [The Scobleizer Weblog]