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IN THIS ISSUE:

THE RELUCTANT IP GUY

MURMUR:LOST SOULS

THE FADE OF TECH TV

LOST IN TRANSLATION

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THE RELUCTANT IP GUY

Where to begin?

When you are the default or de facto tech support person, you know enough to know when NOT to do something that could really mess up the cryptic network pathways, administrative authorizations, protocol options or computer passwords. But during the last month of tech hell, where does it stop??

The back office old iMac is the work horse. It held the scan to folder scan and fax imagines from copier/fax machine. It also holds the company check register. It also holds the archives of documents, templates and forms. The hard disk was less than a third full when it began acting up. While on the internet, it would occasionally freeze up. Then it would crash in sleep mode. The search for an answer led to the standard progression. Was their a virus? Run the anti-virus software. All clear. Was their a boot block error? Run the system diagnosis repair utility. It says hard drive has no problems. Was their a software update to the firmware? Run check and system OS is up to date (even though it is an old legacy version.)

So the machine worked okay for another couple of days. Until it stopped accepting commands. Booting from a OS CD to re-run the utility program, it led to the confusion that the diagnostic program said everything was fine. So it had to be a mangled operating system code. So a new re-install of the original software was done. Successful. Reboot fine. Run software update to return to the last version. Successful. No problems on the updates. But a short time later, the problems started to creep up again. It has to be a failing hardware issue.

Then the iMac crashed and burned for good. No reboot. No CD boot.

Having to use an old laptop as a recovery vehicle for the old files and legacy programs to read those files, the old bag of tricks reminded me of Target Mode. By connecting the laptop to the dead machine, you can can connect to the dead machine as an external hard drive. So a few hours of compiling folders and files, and copying them over to the recovery laptop, the rescue mission was over. (Again, regular back ups would have made the rescue mission simple and easy.)

The old iMac was retired to storage. The old laptop is now the new workhorse machine. It is running 3 versions removed old system software which is fine for the recovered files and programs. But it has it's own issues. It's battery refuses to hold a charge. So it was important to replace the old machine with a new iMac.

When the new iMac came, it was unboxed and plugged in. There was already suspicion. Apple's Lion OS 10.7 in some respects is a downgrade from previous operating systems. It is the transition from the old OS X platform to the iOS and Cloud mentality of the alleged future. So immediately, you have to buy new versions of word processing and spreadsheet programs. And they have to be bought on-line and downloaded without buying a physical copy. (I prefer buying a box with a disk in case you need to reinstall the program.) In fact, the new iMacs do not come with a copy of the Lion OS. Remember, the Apple PR department preach that Macs don't crash. Right.

So that was already two strikes against the new machine. Then you have to reconnect to the LAN and WAN/Internet router. You have to make sure the user account and passwords are remembered correctly because the new machine is unforgiving. Just using the Lion OS for week was near frustrating . . . you can no longer open the hard disk to move files manually. It is locked and access is unauthorized. And when the machine goes to sleep, you have to log back in. Yes, this might be nickpicking but even the iMacs purchased a year ago with Snow Leopard at least could run old programs with Rosetta. But now Apple has made the decision that compatibility to prior machines is no longer a corporate ethic or plan. So the new Lion OS does not convert old files with the ease of older versions.

In a work place that deals with lots of letter and document production, Apple's Pages program is a weak word processor and a bad page layout program. Appleworks, the integrated word-spreadsheet-data base program, has the simple and easy functionality that used to be the core of all Apple products. You get the sense that Apple's focus is more on the mobile platforms and iOS apps than its power desktop machines. So the new learning curve for the new iMac was something new to get used to even in a Mac office environment.

Then the next tech issue was with Ma Bell. The office was going to switch over the analog old phone lines into a digital T-1 line. Since telephone companies now only bring the lines to your doorstep, it is up to your phone man to connect the line to your internal phone system. At least we had an expert to handle the switch over and reconnect each of the five business lines into the new digital router box. But that took a long conference call with techs somewhere on the planet; and numerous calls in and out on each line after it was connected. Patience was running thin by the end of the day. Since it was a digital line, the router had digital ports to connect to the Internet instead of the DSL. So the telephone company wanted to make sure that part of their equipment would connect to the Internet; so a netbook had to be programmed with the new router information just to test whether the ports were working. It was a long learning process which led to the lesson that this type of work was outside my comfort zone.

About a week later, the DSL went out. We specifically kept the DSL service even though the new system had that Internet connection feature. We were planning, with the teleco engineers, to use a switch box of some sort keep the DSL service as a back-up in case their is a port or connection issue on the digital router. Everyone was aware of the plan. Except a week later, the telephone company deactivated by mistake the DSL service. Now, most of business is now through the Internet: emails, attachments are really replacing business telephone calls and faxes. So no Internet access was a real issue. An apologetic tech support crew tried to figure out what went wrong. It was all at their end. So, at the end of the day of darkness, a tech support person decided to try to re-program the DSL router through the LAN (which meant I had to do it.) There were questions whether a deactivated DSL router serial number could be resurrected from the dead pile and work on the network switch. So after several attempts, and groans (and conferences with a supervisor off line), the phone tech thought that maybe re-registering the router would work. So he took the old information, changed a password or two on his end, then made me do the same on my end, then a connection was established, so manually putting in the old information and passwords were done to restore the old status quo. It was like slogging through a sea of sticky mud. But with the service restored, but another day wasted, we moved on.

To the next problem. The old dead iMac held the scan to folder information from the copier/fax machine. But since the new iMac has a new IP address, there was no way to re-establish the scan feature. So a call to tech support for the copier led to a discussion about having our “IP network person” reestablish the connection pathways. Since that was de facto me, I tried to figure out what the scan to folder process was all about. Tech support said to log into the copier over the net, and try to reconfigure the user boxes with the new Mac IP address. That was tried and it failed. Then there was a question of whether the Lion OS was factor. Tech support would have to research that; so a service call was in order.

Now, there is a big difference between OS 7 and OS 6. Lion does not like to play well with older versions of anything. Old programs, old files or old methods of doing things. For example, you cannot access the hard drive to move files back and forth. It is locked and you are not authorized to open it says the error message. Well, that was a serious problem because the copy scan needed to find the hard disk pathway in order to work. So the new machine was abandoned for a new but year old machine with OS 6. Even the tech support people had stories about the issues with the new operating platform. Apple is going to push its customers into the iOS and cloud world whether they want to go or not. The App Store, the built in iCloud sync, and the lack of physical media with its products are all clear signals that their future has no basis in the past.

In order to get the scan to folder to work, new firmware had to be loaded in the copier. Then, the IP addresses and folders had to be reset via the network. It took several attempts to find the exact character strings to get a scan to the new machine folder properly.

Then, less than a week later, in the mid morning, the DSL goes out again. A call to the teleco states that the signal is still coming to the building, so it has to be a DSL router problem. This is the second gateway we have had for the service. It was not replaced that long ago, maybe 18 months. The quality builds on these boxes are not the greatest. But when the tech guy arrived at the end of the day, he asked a dreaded question. Is this a static IP address? I said yes, and he cringed. If the router was bad, a new router would have to be installed. From my experience, that meant a new serial number home office configuration, and a network reinstall Where did that list of three different passwords go?

The tech admitted is not experienced in such static IP devices. He would have to check with a supervisor if it came to that. I told him when the DSL was disconnected, it was a pain to reconfigure and re-boot the system. So he was going to be cautious. He would remove the power cord to see if that is a problem. He pulled out a new router box from the truck, and the connection tip was wrong. A second box, it fit. Into the power strip, and the router rebooted to all four green lights. A check of the computers found quick Internet access. It was a power cord and not router problem.

So in less than a month, multiple network and Internet functions went on gremlin holiday at work. And work came to a static halt in order to help figure out how to get the digital lifelines reconnected to the LAN.

 

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MURMUR:LOST SOULS REAL NEWS KOMIX

We continue our new graphic novella with Part Six.

 

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THE FADE OF TECH TV ARTICLE

The first experience with TechTV was during a vacation at tech guru Rocky's pseudo ranch in Bozeman. He has a sat dish and pulled in more channels than Skylab. One of his favorites was TechTV, which had the look and feel of a college radio station on steroids. It was loose, fun, informative and at times live (and goofy).

TechTV began as an off-shoot of Ziff-Davis publications. From 1998 to 2004, it fostered a dedicated technology and computer channel for the novice to super geek. Hosts such as Leo Laporte, Kevin Rose and John Dvorak would become well known digital media headliners. Dvorak would become a lead columnist at PC Magazine and podcast host; Rose would branch out to start up tech firms like Digg; Laporte would become a leading technology writer, entrepreneur and host of his own web network.

The premise was simple. American consumers were just beginning to adopt the vast resources of computer technology at work and at home. A home PC was making the transition from cool hobbyist gadget to a household appliance. TechTV programming was meant to gap the learning curve between experts in the field and the new electronic consumer. All things were up for discussion and review: computer platforms, computers, software, accessories, printers, games, and accessories. They also were educational in trying to solve problems viewers had with their machines or connections with shows like Call for Help or Screen Savers.

There were some rocky roads ahead for the channel. Comcast dropped it from its line up in favor of their own gaming channel, G4. With the massive growth and the spending youth demographic, it made some business sense in order to create a full bore gaming channel. However, even with targeting advertisers, there was not enough program spectrum diversity to fill an entire day. So G4 acquired and merged TechTV. The TechTV merger had immediate fall-out as some of the well known hosts would not relocate to LA or had contract disputes. Laporte and Rose defected early.

The TechTV mainstay, X-Play, its gaming program hosted by Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb, made the transition to G4 basically in tact. The format of reviews of current games, nostalgic trips back to old dead consoles and interviews with game programmers and game developers made for easy half hour block of programs.

The old Screen Savers show morphed away from being a daily tech support life line to a digital culture show under the title of Attack of the Show. It began to tap into the growing Internet culture of self produced YouTube videos, gadgets, smart phones, social media, entertainment, games, celebrities and Internet web issues (stories on privacy, spyware or other news topics of the day). The format resembles a very loose morning news show but without the rigid segment marks.

It is ironic that G4 needed to merge with TechTV in order supplement its narrow casting of computer games but today its primary content shows are ATOS and X-Play. It fills out the rest of its program day with repeats of bad syndicated reality shows like Cops, Campus Police, cheaters or "B" movies you used to find on Saturday nights on local UHF stations. And with the departures of X-Play host Adam Sessler and ATOS' Kevin Pereira, G4 is down to two former TechTV hosts on the channel. The network has tried to create its own new programming with a reality based bomb disposal unit and importation of a Japanese obstacle course game show, Ninja Warrior. But it seems there lacks a focus or identity to G4 as being formerly a technology culture way station in the hundreds of cable channels broadcasting bad sit coms, bad reality shows, bad game shows and hit or miss network failed dramas.

More than ever, people are immersed in technology. It rules their daily lives. Many eat, breath and sleep the wonders of their smart phone, social media or digital lifestyles. But as the old Tech TV fades from memory, so does the concept of a cable channel dedicated to the tech geeks inside all of us.

 

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LOST IN TRANSLATION CYBERSAFARI

The cover article in the May, 2000 edition of WIRED was the Global Translation boom. The Internet had shown that the world is only one click away. However, seventy-five percent of the world did not speak or read English.

Engineers were working on a universal translator; something out of Star Trek. The inherent problem with a global translator is that each language has its own phonetic symbolism. But it not as simple as interchanging characters; certain symbols may have different meaning when put into context with surrounding characters. Also, local variants and syntax creates an infinite array of sorting and matching problems. No computer is intuitive enough to recognize the subtle variances between dialects within a language family.

Other firms were working on speaking travel dictionaries. You would input a English word and hopefully, the device would translate it into the foreign language. Adding to the language dialect issues, computers were having a hard time making perfect dictation of speakers. Computerized dictation equipment would be a great labor saver for businesses. However, users have to train its system to recognize your voice, and learn the business terminology and spelling over time. Many people just gave up because of the long learning curve. Typists listening to a tape recording were still faster and more accurate than a computer program.

As WIRED reported, as early as 1629, Descartes proposed a universal language , with equivalent ideas of deferent languages sharing a single symbol. However, his proposal never gained any traction. Nationalism, cultural differences and physical separation were probably the greatest deterrents to a universal language being adopted by the world. Then, in the 1960s, several firms began full time work on machine translation mathematics and devices. After small incremental steps, in 1990 Dragon Systems released the first commercial speech to text recognition system. By the end of the decade, television newscasts were automatically translated with an 85 percent accuracy rate. Accuracy was still the bane of translation devices; person to person business negotiations and diplomatic settings require near perfect understanding (to avoid grave consequences). Person to person listening and translating (best seen at UN security council meetings) is still the gold standard in the field.

Will there ever be a breakthrough to rival the brain transformation of language by an expert linguist?

Probably not. Language is a complex series of communication symbols, tone, inflection and context. Machines can read and manipulate static, objective data. However, how language is spoken often dictates true meaning of the speaker. That is why a person fluent in two languages can use cultural experiences to determine the correct meaning of a word, phrase or idea.

Text to computer speech has been around a long time. It is a basic phonetic based program. It has been built into the Mac operating system for decades (accessible through the system preferences panel). One would think it would be easy just to reverse the process and get speech into text; but the variables in speech patterns creates accuracy errors. The best way to learn a foreign language is to be emersed in it from a very young age.

In the history of the United States, from the mid to late 1800s, English was primarily a second language for immigrants. Large influx of German immigrants settled throughout the Midwest. Eastern Europeans settled in urban areas. Each old world culture retained its language and customs in their ethnic neighborhoods or towns. If one had the ability to get an education, classical languages like Greek and Latin were taught in high schools, so students could read ancient stories as they were written. Two generations ago, most high schools featured foreign language study (French, German or Spanish). In suburban schools with college prep courses, foreign language studies were mandatory. But current educational trends have de-emphasized foreign language studies, partly as a way of budget cutting specialized language teachers. Today, parents who want to give their children the best possibility for a professional career get their children to learn Mandarin. For as globalization of business continues to grow, the need for corporations to have their own language savvy sales force is critical in any import or export trade.

Language is a complex series of intelligent inputs. Artificial intelligence can be programmed into a machine to make predictions, choices, compare variables to make a decision (such as IBM's Big Blue computer playing chess.) You cannot program every speech symbol and dialects variations to get an accurate output. Once you add the concept of humor, satire or cynical comparisons in nature or literature, a translation machine cannot make a difference whether it is intended to be true or false.

Universal translators are a great idea. Dreamers will continue to work at trying to develop a workable platform. But like warp drive, it may always remain science fiction.

 

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