Oh, the Irony!, etc.

MY SERIES ON SPAM triggered a large number of spam filters that search for -- drum roll, please! -- the word "spam." (As if spam ever contains the word "spam"...) That kind of filtering is minor and amusing. 

I've also discovered that three spam-filtering organizations blindly list all e-mail coming from my list host as spam, so literally thousands of Mike's List readers haven't received the newsletter since I switched to this particular list host in May. Not minor, and definitely not amusing.

If you're not getting this newsletter, please let me know. ; )

I'm working on the problem, and should have all subscribers getting the list by the next issue. 

Fred Langa wrote in the most recent issue of his LangaList newsletter about huge problems with SpamCop, which was on my list of services recommended by some readers. Click here to read what Fred said about SpamCop. (And while you're at it, please take the time to subscribe to his excellent newsletter.)

Spam degrades the experience and value of using the Internet, as these problems demonstrate. Spam is making it increasingly difficult to subscribe to -- and publish -- e-mail newsletters. As spammers grow more sophisticated, they disguise their garbage as legitimate newsletter content. Some less sophisticated services end up blocking real newsletters, just to be on the safe side. 

Don't let the spammers kill e-mail publishing! Make sure you actually receive the newsletters you have subscribed to. If an e-mail publication you used to get suddenly stops, contact the publisher and let them know. Contact your ISP or network admin to find out who's blocking your mail.

Beating spammers means not only stopping spam, but also keeping the legitimate e-mail flowing.  

An Invention You'll Never See

An inventor named Ray Alden of North Carolina has submitted a patent application for a "three dimensional cloaking process and apparatus" for concealing both objects and people. It works -- if it works -- by recording and imitating the background of an object using photodetectors and light emitters to simulate invisibility. If the process doesn't work, you'll never see this invention. And, of course, if it does work, you won't see it either. 

Truly Wireless Net Access

The Jhai Foundation's Jhai PC Project aims to give five very remote Laotian villages Internet access -- even though they have no phones and no electricity. The PCs themselves are ruggedized 486 computers with connected trackballs and dot matrix printers. They're powered by a car battery, which must be charged using foot cranks that work like bicycle peddles. The system should be installed by mid September. 

Open Your Mouth and Listen

An amateur Chinese inventor wants to bring the gift of music to your teeth. Former teacher Meng Shengde has been working on his invention for 15 years. The device is clamped between the teeth, then plugged into an audio device such as an MP3 player or TV. The sounds are transmitted through the jaw bone and into the inner ear nerves, according to the Xinhua news agency. 

Secret Sunglasses Reveal 'Invisible' Screen

The Japanese company Iizuka Denki Kogyo (IDK) claims to have invented a computer screen that can be seen only with special sunglasses. To others, it appears white and blank. The idea is simple: The light-polarizing screens that are standard components on computer monitors are removed from the display and built into the glasses. The 15-inch IDK screens should be available this year for $1600 or $2500, depending on the size. Several years ago I actually tested a laptop with this same technology. It worked great, but I felt like an idiot wearing goofy sunglasses on an airplane.

Never Fight Over the Remote Again!

I linked to a story on The Elgan Report web site last week about a Maya Designs Inc. and Carnegie Mellon University project to create the ultimate remote control using a Compaq iPAQ. What I didn't know was that Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) already has a product called the Nevo, which, like the Maya project, uses an iPaq H3900 to control appliances and home electronics via InfraRed. UEI�s core connectivity software supports thousands of device brands across 20 different home entertainment and home automation categories, according to a company press release. Much of the configuration takes place on a special web site. You'll never fight over the remote again because you'll always have your own!

Bad Robots

You've heard of mechanical bulls, those mechanized rodeo rides. But how about a mechanical pit bull? This robot will bite your leg off, just like the real thing.

Another bad idea is Lewis, the wedding photographer robot. He's also available for trade shows and family reunions. Professors William D. Smart and Cindy M. Grimm of Washington University in St. Louis created Lewis to identify humans based on skin tone, then take their picture. He's based on an 800 megahertz Pentium III with 128 megabytes of memory. 

This Newsletter Brought to You By...

This exciting issue of Mike's List was brought to you by your sponsors -- the people who sent money to support ad-free, spam-free content: Andrew ($20), Rhonda ($10), Sameer ($3), Christian ($3), Max ($20), Uriah ($10), Michael ($10), Stewart ($30), and also by the Mike's List "Buck a Month Club": Mark, Sherrin, Michael, Ian, Ricardo, Jeff, Terry, Dennis, Frank, Amira, Judy, "L", Joel, Charles and Ray. Click here to sponsor Mike's List!

Found Video

I found a remake of 2001: A Space Odyssey done entirely with Legos!

Proof You Can Buy Anything on the Web

Don't believe me? I'll bet you didn't know you can fire up your browser and buy: 

Communist lunch boxes (empty, of course).

Authentic simulated I Dream of Jeannie bottles (Jeannie not included). 

Osama Bin Laden action figures (maybe they'll have Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Manson or Jack the Ripper action figures by Christmas).

A Star Wars car (it floats on air). 

A "Return to Sender" casket, which is perfect for that Motorcycle funeral.

Follow-Up

I told you in issue 42 that Acclaim Entertainment, the UK company that makes Turok games, was looking for five suckers willing to change their names to "Turok" for at least a year as part of an advertising gimmick. Well, here they are. From left to right: Turok, Turok, Turok, Turok and Turok.

Shameless Self-Promotion

Don't miss my appearance this Sunday on Craig Crossman's Computer America on your local Business TalkRadio station or over the Internet from 1pm to 3pm Silicon Valley Time. I also have some news to report: Computer America has grown so popular that it's moving from a once-a-week Sunday show to a daily program that will be aired from 8pm to 9pm Silicon Valley Time. I'll be on next week Wednesday night and every Thursday night thereafter. Don't miss Computer America!

Gotta-Get-It Gadgets

The Nokia 3650, which is coming out in "early" 2003 at an undisclosed price, comes with a large color screen, a built-in video and still-digital camera and Bluetooth support. The 3650 will feature 4 megabytes of memory and should have a talk time of up to four hours (8 days standby).  

The new Sharp XV-Z90S is a wireless home projector. Sure, you can use  it to torture house guests with giant pictures of your vacation to Yosemite. But it's got such a high resolution output that you can project DVD movies and TV on a nearby wall for the biggest screen ever. Because it uses 802.11 wireless, you can set it up anywhere in the house, regardless of the location of the PC that's feeding it. Move it outside for a party. Point it at the ceiling and watch from bed. Aim it out the window and use the building across the street as your PC monitor. 

Wacky Web Sites

Welcome to the one and only Bubble Cam. Click the button and you'll start a bubble machine.

Are you one of those people who thinks Alfred Hitchcock is some two-bit hack who couldn't edit his way out of paper bag? Neither am I. The guy was a genius. Still, it's fun to take his raw "Psycho" footage and edit your own knife-in-the-shower scene. Do it all online at the Psycho Studio!

Here's a web site that will keep an eye on your mouse pointer for you.

Who needs a Game Boy when you've got a Game Boy emulator?

You know, sometimes an arm wrestle is just an arm wrestle...

Now you can take a break from work to play this 3d interactive game -- which simulates work.

"Steal It Back" is the best place to buy stolen goods.

Onesixty is a new literary magazine devoted to poetry short enough for SMS delivery -- 160 characters or less. The poems are posted online and offered into the public domain, so you can copy and send them via your cell phone. 

Who says you can't go back? YesterdayLand is the web portal to your childhood!

Here's a web site that tells you the one thing you want to know more than anything else: how to live like James Bond.

Track sightings of when and where people write on dirty cars, "www.washme.com." 

This site lists just about every file format known to man. No, it doesn't tell you what they're for, just what they're called. 

For reasons unknown to science, Japanese companies like to spend big bucks on American movies stars to hawk Japanese products on TV for the domestic market. Most people outside of Japan never see these silly spots -- which is why even academy award winners are willing to make commercials they'd never dream of doing in the U.S. But now, thanks to the "Japander" web site, you can watch American stars make complete fools of themselves in Japanese.

Reader Comment

Mike, 
I was beginning to wonder what the heck was going on last night, when my Newton server started pinging and beeping like there was no tomorrow. Blame it on Mike's List ("Apple Newton Finds a Job," Issue 43). The Newton community appreciates the mention, as do I. And my server held up too. The best part is that I'm not the only one running a Newton server. At times there are up to a dozen Newton servers running. Check the tracker: http://shakti.continuity.cx:2110/
Grant Hutchinson

Mike, 
You wrote that "If you need to post an e-mail address on your personal web site, create a graphic image of the address. Site visitors can see the address, but e-mail-harvesting spiders can't" ("How to Stop Spam," Issue 43). There's a problem with this strategy: It makes your e-mail inaccessible to the blind and vision impaired. If a spider can't get your address, neither can a screen reader. And putting the address in the ALT text of the image tag makes it just as accessible to the spider as the reader.
Phil Miller

Mike, 
You mentioned in your recent spam article about being careful posting your e-mail address on your own web site. There's a tiny application called E-cloaker that can help with this. It turns both the "href" of the hyperlink tag and the hyperlinked text into unicode, which displays as normal in a browser but is not easily readable in the HTML. See http://www.codefoot.com/software/ecloaker/index.html
David Chadderton, Manchester, England

Mike,
Have been a regular reader of your list, and I must say I love it. I was reading the latest issue on spam, and I was surprised not to find "sneakemail.com" in the list of ways! I have tried all ways to stop spam and I find this to be the most effective and useful. This site generates email addresses (obscure ones) for you and you can give out those addresses to web sites and mailing lists etc. The mails are forwarded to your "real" id. If you start getting spam, you know who gave out your address. You can block addresses on each of these ids based on senders, and best of all, you can delete the email address. I think this is one of the best spam protector I have seen till now. Another site I like is "despammed.com" which filters mails for you based on spam rules and forwards the filtered ones to you. Do let your readers know about the site. I think it will help them; it helps me.
Pradeep Sanyal

I get hundreds of reader e-mail messages per week, so I can publish only a tiny fraction of them. I reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Send comments to: [email protected]

Last Week's Mystery Pic

No, it's not a "wrist slot machine," "portable stock ticker" or even the new "PC Jr, Wrist Edition" as suggested by some readers. It's The IBM WatchPad, a prototype Linux-based PDA developed by IBM and Citizen. The watch has 16 megabytes of flash memory, a QVGA liquid crystal display and voice-enabled Bluetooth and infrared red wireless connectivity options. Congratulations to Alan Batson from Queensland, Australia, for being first with the right answer!

Mystery Pic o' the Week

What is it? Send YOUR guess to [email protected] (be sure to say where you live). If you're first with the right answer, I'll print your name in the next issue of Mike's List!