Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with wired

Wired t-shirt w/man being hit by lightning

poulet — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:20:33 -0800

Seeking info about/pictures of old Wired Magazine t-shirt with stick figure getting hit by lightning inside a yellow triangle The cover of the latest isse of Wired Magazine shows a warning symbol of a stick figure being hit by a lightning bolt. I remember that the very early issues of the magazine gave away or sold black t-shirts with this logo on them. Does anyone else remember this? Is it possible to buy these shirts? Are there any photos of them? (Yes, I've Googled around.)

Finding the right AC adapter.

brenton — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:46:03 -0800

Where can I find a 2/3a 700mAh 2.4v AC adapter? I am trying to convert my battery-operated rechargeable beard trimmer into a "wired" trimmer. (The battery was dying, and it wasn't able to run off AC, so it was pretty much useless.

If I can' t find the exact right AC adapter, which numbers can I fudge? Is it ok if the voltage is the same but it's 10 amps? If the amps are correct, can I get away with a voltage of only 1.2?

DSL in two locations with one line.

CliffDiving44 — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:22:29 -0800

Questions about dual modem/router connections on one dsl line. Some friends and I are trying to get wireless and wired internet in an office away from the house, where the modem and router currently are. This office has phone jacks, and has been previously used with a modem and router to hook up to the internet. My question is, with the dsl connection that my friend has, would it be viable to hook up the phone jack in here to a separate modem, and that to a separate router, and have internet in both the house and the office? Or would I we have to purchase another phone line for a separate dsl connection for the office? Of course, another option is running an ethernet cable out here to the office, but that would be a lot of work and not the first option we would like to choose. Thank you for the answers!

How to find the number of pages in back issues of magazines.

imjosh — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:44:36 -0800

Please help me find out how many pages are in back issues of several popular magazines. I'm doing some research into shrinking magazine size and one portion of this is to try and find the number of pages in several magazines, specifically; Blender, Esquire, WIRED, Maxim and SPIN. Ideally I'd love to know the number of pages v. ads in every issue but I think that's a reach.

Do you know where I could track this information down?

Is there a certain person on a magazine staff who I should approach to try and find this?

Do you have the last 12 issues of any of these and can help me out?

Perhaps I should hire an Amazon turker...

What happened to Wired's professional bettors?

geoff. — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:45:48 -0800

Remember this Wired article about "computer teams" analyzing horse races in Asia? What became of that? Were the theories sound? What exactly were they doing? Are there any other articles, academic or otherwise, about modeling horse races? The article sparked my interest, and I'm interested in the mathematics and theory behind this, yet I'm unable to find any references to statistical betting beyond the Wired article. In fact the names in the article don't even Google well.

I have a hard time believing that there are betting quants earning 24% returns in Hong Kong somewhere. Did these "funds" eventually go bust? Did they exist at all?

Getting an Xbox360 cheaply connected to a wireless network

Blazecock Pileon — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:39:03 -0800

I'd like to connect an Xbox360 to a home (AirPort-based) wireless network on the cheap. What bridge would you recommend for this purpose that is:

Inexpensive

Reliable

Works with a secured AirPort network

Thanks!

Good wired router as gateway to VoIP and wireless router?

skywhite — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:45:35 -0800

Good wired router as gateway to VoIP and wireless router? When I got Vonage several years ago, they provided a now-discontinued Netgear RP614 wired router to plug my cable into, and the router (which also has a built-in firewall that works well) then offers outlets for my Vonage box as well as my Apple Airport wireless router (which I use for my Mac and as part of a larger network with an Airport Express streaming music to my living room stereo).

Everything's worked fine until recently. Now the Netgear router gets confused and shuts down all through-traffic at least once a day. A manual reset (unplug, wait, plug back in) sets things right, but it seems the router is on its way out after 5 years of service.

Vonage no longer offers wired routers -- instead they offer a proprietary VoIP box that has its own little router built-in, but I don't want to go through the hassle of dealing with Vonage, and I'd rather just do something non-proprietary on my own.

Is Netgear still a good choice for wired routers? Anyone else I might want to look at (eg Belkin)? Also, is this setup too convoluted -- is there a way to improve it while simplifying -- or is this just par for the course if I want VoIP as wekk as wireless internet?

Being Digital's Fortress

roger ackroyd — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:54:09 -0800

Did anyone ever crack the Negroponte Code? In 1995, long before One Laptop per Child, tech evangelist Nicholas Negroponte authored a book, Being Digital, that challenged readers to crack an "unbreakable" binary code of his own devising. Negroponte was so certain this code couldn't be broken that he offered a $100,000 prize out of his own pocket. (The offer was later revoked for legal reasons – details at the bottom of this ancient interview.)

Does anyone know the current status of Negroponte's challenge?

This was keeping me up last night.

Can I connect a PSP to wired Ethernet?

flabdablet — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 01:46:32 -0800

Can I connect a PSP to wired Ethernet? Young Flabdablet has the use of a friend's PlayStation Portable. I don't want him using the Internet behind closed doors, so I'm not going to give him the WPA key for my wireless router. Is there (a) software available that we can install on a PC, allowing him to get a LAN connection via the PSP's USB2 connector (b) a USB2-to-Ethernet dongle that will work with the PSP?

Cannot connect to VPN and do not know why

criticman — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 06:13:00 -0800

Why can I not VPN in consistently to work? It DOES work on WinXP Pro w/ Windows Firewall on:
-directly plugged into Comcast Cable modem
-unsecured WiFi connection downtown
-using Verizon Wireless phone as modem for DUN

It DOES NOT work on WinXP Pro w/ or w/o Windows Firewall on:
-behind Linksys WRT54G wireless router, either plugged into it or using wireless connection, even when all VPN, IPSEC options are set to enable pass through and the firewall on the device is disabled
-plugged into a port on my alma mater's network

When it does not work, it just says connecting to (IP ADDRESS)... and eventually times out after several minutes.

I have looked all over the internet and not found a solution that makes sense since this happens on networks without the Linksys device. No other user has this issue, other than my boss (also new to company) and he has tried the same attempt methods, other than the college's connection.

Please help! Much appreciated!

Can I hear you now?

ZenMasterThis — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 07:27:50 -0800

Need a better, louder wired headset for my cell phone. I get my hearing checked regularly, so I know I'm not going deaf, but the one I have now just does not get loud enough under normal use conditions. Any similar experiences, recommendations?

Hotels in Zurich & Geneva with wired internet?

priorpark17 — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 03:29:21 -0800

Good hotels in Zurich & Geneva with WIRED internet? I need to book some rooms for my boss in Zurich & Geneva. He needs fast internet in the room but doesn't do wireless (don't ask). Most hotels seem wireless or dial-up. Anybody been there done that?

Need help finding an article published in 1997 or 1998

Livewire Confusion — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 08:51:43 -0800

I am trying to find an article I read back in I think in 1997 or 1998 in a computer magazine (may have been Wired or some Mac magazine). Anyway the article talked about using things around the house to make a computer desk out of. I distinctly remember a picture of an old refrigerator being modded out and and used as a computer desk. My google-fu fails me. It had some pretty innovative ideas in it. Any help is appreciated greatly.

End-user network extention

SemiSophos — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 15:55:28 -0800

I'm a college student at a school that has a policy of one port per bed for network jacks. What sort of gear do I need to transparently break my port out into several wired jacks and wireless access? I have both a desktop machine and laptop that need network access, and I would like to keep them as close to the college network as possible (ie: not behind NAT or on their own subnet or whatever). The college has a Class B IP block, and assigns students valid IPs out of that. As such, I'd like to make sure I'm using their DHCP servers and appear the same as if I'd plugged directly into the jack. My research has lead me to believe that a switch would satisfy the wired aspect of this question, but I'm at a loss when it comes to wireless. Should I get a wired switch and then connect a wireless bridge/AP to it, or should I just get a wireless router? If I go with the router, what sort of settings do I need to modify/disable/etc to use upstream DHCP servers and such? Or do I need something else entirely? Thanks!

Bargain Stereo Component solution

FlamingBore — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 00:06:15 -0800

I'm moving into a new apartment in a couple of weeks. It's completely wired for sound and has a rack in a closet for components. I know nothing about components, but think it would be great to hook something up. Help? There is also a connection for the television on the complete opposite side of the great room, so whatever solutions are suggested should keep that in mind. I haven't had a chance to look at the connections, but I'm assuming them to be kind of standard.

I don't want to spend a lot. I'm not a audiophile (obviously), I just want to enjoy having good music piped throughout the apartment.

Most of my music is currently in MP3 format, so a hard drive solution might be interesting. I do not listen to broadcast radio, but I don't know if that matters. CDs and MP3s is all I'm looking at here.

Vanity Wikipedia Edits

kk — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 09:22:32 -0800

What is the proper netiquette for editing a Wikipedia entry about yourself? I just stumbled upon mine recently. Since it is written in the third person there is the presumption of objectivity. But then, it is my life, and I am the world's expert on it. What would you do?

Seeking Contemporary Stories of Young People's Successes In Tech Sector

banished — Mon, 17 Jan 2005 17:44:23 -0800

I liked reading this article about Collegehumor.com and this article about Delicious Monster. Any suggestions for any other great articles on what successes young people are having these days with respect to the tech sector? I'd prefer current articles to Jobs / Gates era stuff.

Info on Wired Mention of Stanford Project Geocoding Photos?

Jeff Howard — Tue, 30 Nov 2004 08:31:30 -0800

Last month in Wired, David Weinberger mentioned a research project at Stanford that "compares photos with shots of known locations, automatically annotating snaps with information about where they were taken."

Anyone know what he's talking about? I can't seem to turn up any more information about the project.

My wireless Mac and wired PC transfer to each other at 2.5 MB/s. Can I speed this up any?

ascullion — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 07:48:36 -0800

I've got a network in my home - one PC, connected by wire to the router, and one Apple, connected by an Airport card (which I believe is 802.11G). The fastest speed I can get transferring files from one to the other is 2.5MB/s, which seems slow. Am I right, or is this standard?

Best way to set up a LAN using equipment I already own.

Mayor Curley — Fri, 28 May 2004 07:09:21 -0800

The new network Friday challenge: I need to set up a network for my new place and I wanted to do it with my available stuff. How close can I come? More inside. Moving into a new place. Cable is only wired downstairs and we don't want the multiple-TV temptation of having it upstairs. Three computers will be upstairs, and I want all of them to have network access via the wireless router in the living room.

The desktop computers are running:

Windows XP
Suse 8.1
Windows 98 SE

To connect them I currently have:

a netgear wireless router
1 wireless pci card
about 6 standard ethernet cards
a network bridge

My questions are 1) what is the best way to hook them up without dropping 130 bucks on two more wireless cards and 2) what's the cheapest way to hook them up?

How can I make my Mac stop automatically connecting to my neighbors' networks?

eilatan — Sun, 29 Feb 2004 13:57:04 -0800

Stupid Mac question - I have an AirPort card, but no base station. I was just visiting my cousin for the weekend, and they have one, and they did something to my computer to get it to connect to their wireless network (they have all sorts of security on it) and now I cannot have my AirPort card turned on without it automatically connecting to my neighbors' networks. I use an ethernet cable here at home, and I have my configuration set to look for the ethernet connection before a wireless one. I am at a total loss as to what to do to tell it to not automatically connect, short of leaving the card turned off unless I'm using it (and Apple's website is no help, because they assume that you do want to use it). Any ideas?

What are some good, general tech news sites?

JoanArkham — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 11:05:43 -0800

I'm looking for some good, general tech news sites...something like Wired used to be before they were bought out. Any ideas?