<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
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  <title><![CDATA[&uuml;berthings, inc.]]></title>
  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/" />
  <modified>2006-03-06T14:55:38Z</modified>
  <tagline></tagline>
  <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2006:/blog/2</id>
  <generator url="http://www.movabletype.org/" version="3.2">Movable Type</generator>
  <copyright>Copyright (c) 2006, michael</copyright>
  <entry>
    <title>Simevolution AKA Spore</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000093.html" />
    <modified>2006-03-06T14:55:38Z</modified>
    <issued>2006-03-06T09:55:38-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2006:/blog/2.93</id>
    <created>2006-03-06T14:55:38Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain">Spore Gameplay Video - Google Video Awesome awesome awesome. Will Wright does it again. This looks like it&apos;s going to be the timesuck of the decade....</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    <dc:subject>Sloth</dc:subject>
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p><a title="Spore Gameplay Video - Google Video" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8372603330420559198&q=spore">Spore Gameplay Video - Google Video</a></p>

<p>Awesome awesome awesome. Will Wright does it again. This looks like it's going to be the timesuck of the decade. </p>]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Hot chip</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000092.html" />
    <modified>2006-02-20T22:38:09Z</modified>
    <issued>2006-02-20T17:38:01-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2006:/blog/2.92</id>
    <created>2006-02-20T22:38:01Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain">Hot Chip Pretty damn cool little electro band....</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    <dc:subject>Supercool</dc:subject>
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p><a title="Hot Chip" href="http://www.hotchip.co.uk/index.php?page=news">Hot Chip</a></p>

<p>Pretty damn cool little electro band. </p>]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>He Safire to the facts! [in the style of Cartman from South Park]</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000091.html" />
    <modified>2006-02-19T23:20:15Z</modified>
    <issued>2006-02-19T18:20:04-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2006:/blog/2.91</id>
    <created>2006-02-19T23:20:04Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain">Kottke led me to this post by Wes Felter rightfully criticizing William Safire&apos;s rough&apos;n&apos;far from ready article ostensibly reviewing the jargon of the blogosphere. Among the numerous factual errors, Safire&apos;s primary source for these facts - blogossary.com gets things so...</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    <dc:subject>Sloth</dc:subject>
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.kottke.org/06/02/youre-safired">Kottke</a> led me to <a title="Hack the Planet: cranky OSB" href="http://wmf.editthispage.com/2006/02/18">this post by Wes Felter</a> rightfully criticizing <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/magazine/19wwln_safire.html">William Safire's</a> rough'n'far from ready article ostensibly reviewing the jargon of the blogosphere. Among the numerous factual errors, Safire's primary source for these facts - <a href="http://blogossary.com">blogossary.com</a> gets things so wrong it's almost laughable. Here's a quick example of their entry for 'meme': "A meme is a type of online chain letter where bloggers answer questions or participate in a quiz designed to give a quick overview of the author’s personality." </p>

<p>I can't believe that such a well-respected writer at the Times uses a single (<a href="http://alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?&range=3m&size=medium&compare_sites=&y=r&url=blogossary.com">barely visited</a>) site as a primary source for his article. Even five minutes spent <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=internet+meme">googling</a> or hell - <a href="http://www.ask.com/web?q=internet+meme&qsrc=0&o=0">askjeevesing (get it before he's gone) </a>- would have exposed Safire's factual 'malfunction' with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme">a teeny bit of evidence.</a> </p>]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>A modern take on classic video games</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000090.html" />
    <modified>2006-02-18T22:41:55Z</modified>
    <issued>2006-02-18T17:41:13-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2006:/blog/2.90</id>
    <created>2006-02-18T22:41:13Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain">Child&apos;s Play Part II from 1UP.com EGM: Do you feel like you&apos;re in the middle of the Star Wars universe right now? Everybody: No. Parker: It feels like we&apos;re in some barely 3D universe. Me: Awesome. The way all focus...</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    <dc:subject>Supercool</dc:subject>
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p><a title="Child's Play Part II from 1UP.com" href="http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3137498">Child's Play Part II from 1UP.com</a></p>

<p>EGM: Do you feel like you're in the middle of the Star Wars universe right now?</p>

<p>Everybody: No.</p>

<p>Parker: It feels like we're in some barely 3D universe.</p>

<p>Me: Awesome. The way all focus groups should be. </p>]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Commodore 64: The return.</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000089.html" />
    <modified>2006-02-11T20:16:40Z</modified>
    <issued>2006-02-11T15:16:33-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2006:/blog/2.89</id>
    <created>2006-02-11T20:16:33Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain">Alright this made me laugh today. I opened up Opera this morning and went to the View menu, selected Style-&gt;User mode and then Nostalgia. Boom. Any web site is now instantly rendered a la Commodore 64 circa 1986. Glorious....</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    <dc:subject>Supercool</dc:subject>
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p>Alright this made me laugh today. I opened up <a href="http://opera.com" title="Opera is an awesome browser. Now with added C64 emulation!">Opera</a> this morning and went to the View menu, selected Style->User mode and then Nostalgia. Boom. Any web site is now instantly rendered a la Commodore 64 circa 1986. Glorious.</p>]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>IM Quotes</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000088.html" />
    <modified>2005-12-29T19:03:24Z</modified>
    <issued>2005-12-29T14:03:17-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2005:/blog/2.88</id>
    <created>2005-12-29T19:03:17Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain"> hey, if you type in your pw, it will show as stars ********* see! hunter2 doesnt look like stars to me ******* QDB: Top 100 Quotes...</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    <dc:subject>Sloth</dc:subject>
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p><Cthon98> hey, if you type in your pw, it will show as stars<br />
<Cthon98> ********* see!<br />
<AzureDiamond> hunter2<br />
<AzureDiamond> doesnt look like stars to me<br />
<Cthon98> <AzureDiamond> *******</p>

<p><a title="QDB: Top 100 Quotes" href="http://www.bash.org/?top">QDB: Top 100 Quotes</a></p>]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Why I love Thunderbird</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000087.html" />
    <modified>2005-12-02T14:42:35Z</modified>
    <issued>2005-12-02T09:42:33-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2005:/blog/2.87</id>
    <created>2005-12-02T14:42:33Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain"> tbird_scam Originally uploaded by michaelsharon. I am seriously impressed by the fact that it can figure out the difference between normal spam and potential phishing attempts. Great job Mozilla Foundation!...</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
 <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deprimer/69363931/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/6/69363931_56145e40af_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a>
 <br />
 <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;">
  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deprimer/69363931/">tbird_scam</a>
  <br />
  Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/deprimer/">michaelsharon</a>.
 </span>
</div>
I am seriously impressed by the fact that it can figure out the difference between normal spam and potential phishing attempts. Great job Mozilla Foundation!
<br clear="all" />]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Ace Bar for sale</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000086.html" />
    <modified>2005-11-27T23:00:19Z</modified>
    <issued>2005-11-27T18:00:13-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2005:/blog/2.86</id>
    <created>2005-11-27T23:00:13Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain">eBay: ACE BAR NEW YORK CITY MANHATTAN EAST VILLAGE BUSINESS (item 4420176447 end time Dec-19-05 16:27:21 PST) Yeah. The Ace Bar in the East Village is being sold on Ebay. I hope it comes with the Hologram Werewolf and the...</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    <dc:subject>Sloth</dc:subject>
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p><a title="eBay: ACE BAR NEW YORK CITY MANHATTAN EAST VILLAGE BUSINESS (item 4420176447 end time Dec-19-05 16:27:21 PST)" href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ACE-BAR-NEW-YORK-CITY-MANHATTAN-EAST-VILLAGE-BUSINESS_W0QQitemZ4420176447QQcategoryZ15825QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem">eBay: ACE BAR NEW YORK CITY MANHATTAN EAST VILLAGE BUSINESS (item 4420176447 end time Dec-19-05 16:27:21 PST)</a></p>

<p>Yeah. The Ace Bar in the East Village is being sold on Ebay. I hope it comes with the Hologram Werewolf and the collection of vintage lunch tins - cos those things are worth like 1/2 a million alone. </p>]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>I want to teach my phone to sing</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000085.html" />
    <modified>2005-11-27T22:58:24Z</modified>
    <issued>2005-11-27T17:57:44-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2005:/blog/2.85</id>
    <created>2005-11-27T22:57:44Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain">...in perfect harmony. Actually I&apos;ll settle for teaching it a few words. Since switching from a Nokia 6600 to a 7610, back again and then from a 7610 to a 6682, I&apos;ve had to reconfig my phone a few times...</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    <dc:subject>Tools</dc:subject>
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p>...in perfect harmony. Actually I'll settle for teaching it a few words. Since switching from a Nokia 6600 to a 7610, back again and then from a 7610 to a 6682, I've had to reconfig my phone a few times - but what bugs me the most is reteaching my predictive text engine words which make up my regular sms vocabulary.. things like <strong>karaoke, joburg, smooch, socialight, booyakash, shit, frak, fuck.. etc </strong>. So I'm thinking that maybe there could be a personal dictionary for predictive text engines which lets you easily transition your lexicon between handsets. As phones become more personal devices, linked to more of the media that we generate, this personal lexicon concept would be extended to other things - like UI themes, wallpaper, ring tones etc. So maybe what I'm looking for is a cross-platform user profile for my handset which I can easily move between phones from different manufacturer's and different carriers.</p>

<p>This clearly sounds like something that could be achieved by mashing up your social network profile, a mobile UI theme generator and <a href="http://sxip.org/" title="pronounced 'skip'">sxip</a>, but I haven't been able to find anything like it out there at the moment. If anybody hears of anything... send it my way, otherwise perhaps I'll take a stab at it one of these days. </p>]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>3rd most confusing infographic ever</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000084.html" />
    <modified>2005-11-27T22:16:37Z</modified>
    <issued>2005-11-20T16:57:21-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2005:/blog/2.84</id>
    <created>2005-11-20T21:57:21Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain">As seen at New York City&apos;s JFK Airport. 3rd most confusing infographic ever Originally uploaded by michaelsharon....</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p>As seen at New York City's JFK Airport. <div style="float: left; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><br />
 <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deprimer/65234082/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/26/65234082_94989a310e_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br />
 <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deprimer/65234082/">3rd most confusing infographic ever</a><br />
  Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/deprimer/">michaelsharon</a>.<br />
 </span><br />
</div></p>

<p><br clear="all" /></p>]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>How T-mobile reinvented SMTP...</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000083.html" />
    <modified>2005-11-19T15:31:23Z</modified>
    <issued>2005-11-19T09:06:56-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2005:/blog/2.83</id>
    <created>2005-11-19T14:06:56Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain"> So I was doing a bit of googling to fix up my new Nokia 6682&apos;s email capabilities and I found some useful information via Google and then this complete nonsense (see image on left) from T-mobile - my trusted...</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    <dc:subject>Sloth</dc:subject>
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p>
So I was doing a bit of googling to fix up my new Nokia 6682's email capabilities and I found some <a href="http://ultramookie.com/wayback/2005/10/09/t-mobile-smtp-needs-authentication-now/" title="info on t-mobile smtp">useful information</a> via Google and then this 
<a href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/i/t-mobile_smtp.png" onclick="window.open('http://www.uberthings.com/blog/i/t-mobile_smtp.png','popup','width=785,height=379,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=yes,left=0,top=0');return false"><img src="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/i/t-mobile_smtp-tm.jpg" height="100" width="207" border="1" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="T-Mobile Smtp" style="float: left; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0;" /></a>
<br />complete nonsense (see image on left) from T-mobile - my trusted cell phone provider, to whom I pay large chunks of cash every month to provide me with limited data speed, shoddy connection and erratic SMS delivery. Now I know why - they don't even bloody know what SMTP is! Perhaps I am wildly off the mark, and what I have thought of for many years as the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (defined in <a href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc821.txt" title="RFC 821 - read it">RFC 821</a>), the cornerstone of email is actually the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;q=%22Short+Message+Transfer+Protocol%22&amp;btnG=Search" title="371 hits on Google (prolly 372 after this is published)">Short Message Transfer Protocol</a>. Hmm... 371 hits on Google, zilch on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Short+Message+Transfer+Protocol&amp;go=Go" title="0 hits as of today">Wikipedia</a> and precious little everywhere else. 
</p><p>
Perhaps they were confusing SMTP with SMS - the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_message_service" title="SMS">Short Message Service</a> - which is sometimes also called text messaging. These acronyms are difficult to sort out, especially if you're one of the largest carriers in the US with other things on your mind, like working out how to squeeze more $$ out of your millions of customers. Frankly, if they can't even copy and paste definitions of easily understood acronyms, I shudder to think of the incompetence lurking within their billing department. Sheesh. 
</p>






<!-- technorati tags start --><p style="text-align:right;font-size:10px;">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/carriers" rel="tag">carriers</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/mobile" rel="tag">mobile</a></p><!-- technorati tags end -->]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>dack.com 2.0</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000082.html" />
    <modified>2005-11-08T05:34:56Z</modified>
    <issued>2005-11-08T00:34:44-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2005:/blog/2.82</id>
    <created>2005-11-08T05:34:44Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain">Go to the Web Two Point Oh! site and get yourself a new company pre-made for VC loving. I am the President and CEO of the Welsh-sounding Secwy, who specializes in tag-based classifieds via Ruby on Rails. Ah.. the good...</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    <dc:subject>Sloth</dc:subject>
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p>Go to the <a title="Web Two Point Oh!" href="http://andrewwooldridge.com/myapps/webtwopointoh.html">Web Two Point Oh!</a> site and get yourself a new company pre-made for VC loving. I am the President and CEO of the Welsh-sounding Secwy, who specializes in tag-based classifieds via Ruby on Rails. </p>

<p><a href="http://dack.com/web/bullshit.html" title="New Economy Bullshit Generator" >Ah.. the good old days..</a>.. found while perusing <a href="http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/">apophenia</a></p>]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>The sound of Pacman</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000081.html" />
    <modified>2005-11-08T05:17:23Z</modified>
    <issued>2005-11-08T00:17:10-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2005:/blog/2.81</id>
    <created>2005-11-08T05:17:10Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain"> CoinOpVideogames.com is a remarkably awesome site that offers sounds of classic video games recorded between 1982 and 1988. Solid gold....</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    <dc:subject>Supercool</dc:subject>
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p><a title="Welcome to CoinOpVideogames.com" href="http://www.coinopvideogames.com/sounds.html"> CoinOpVideogames.com</a> is a remarkably awesome site that offers sounds of classic video games recorded between 1982 and 1988. Solid gold. </p>]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Fixin&apos; Isync</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000080.html" />
    <modified>2005-11-05T05:04:00Z</modified>
    <issued>2005-11-05T00:04:00-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2005:/blog/2.80</id>
    <created>2005-11-05T05:04:00Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain">If like me, you bring home a Nokia 7610, attempt to hook it up with the Bluetooth and iSync and encounter the wonderful &quot;iSync can not connect to this device&quot; screen - never fear - the iSync Connection Fix is...</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    <dc:subject>Tools</dc:subject>
    <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/">
      <![CDATA[<p>If like me, you bring home a Nokia 7610, attempt to hook it up with the Bluetooth and iSync and encounter the wonderful "iSync can not connect to this device" screen - never fear - the <a title="iSync Connection Fix | partylemon (v6.4)" href="http://partylemon.com/archives/13/4359.html">iSync Connection Fix</a> is here. Thank you partylemon, whoever you are... <br />
</p>]]>
      
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Secret Colour Printer Dot Matrix</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.uberthings.com/blog/archives/000079.html" />
    <modified>2005-10-29T16:30:33Z</modified>
    <issued>2005-10-29T11:30:30-05:00</issued>
    <id>tag:www.uberthings.com,2005:/blog/2.79</id>
    <created>2005-10-29T16:30:30Z</created>
    <summary type="text/plain"> color printer machine id codes Originally uploaded by michaelsharon. It&apos;s completely unrelated to dot-matrix printing.. or is it? When I visited the EFF a few weeks ago, they blew our minds by showing us a pattern of coded dots...</summary>
    <author>
      <name>michael</name>
      <url>www.uberthings.com</url>
      <email>michael@uberthings.com</email>
    </author>
    
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 <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deprimer/48051215/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/33/48051215_9658e7ca49_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a>
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  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deprimer/48051215/">color printer machine id codes</a>
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  Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/deprimer/">michaelsharon</a>.
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It's completely unrelated to dot-matrix printing.. or is it? When I visited the EFF a few weeks ago, they blew our minds by showing us a pattern of coded dots which identify the printer make, model, date and a number of other things. The dots are printed out by most colour printers and are visible only under blue light. <br />
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Approximately 10 years ago, the US Secret Service asked a number of printer manufacturers to include this undocumented "feature" in their products - which they eagerly complied with. This isn't restricted to the US, and is actually not so new <a href="http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1002274598">PC World had an article</a> about this a year ago.<br />
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It does make you wonder how many other hidden features exist inside our technologies and whether they will ever be revealed. I have faith that the growing DIY hardware hacker culture, as seen in <a href="http://makezine.com/">Make</a> magazine, <a href="http://www.instructables.com/">SquidLabs Instructables</a> and <a href="http://tigoe.net/pcomp/index.shtml">other places</a>, will aid in revealing more of these insidious Easter eggs over the next few years.
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