The Ubiquity radios were seriously considered, but I definitely wanted MIMO and simultaneous 2.4 and 5.2 GHz in one box.

Remember, this is all volunteer run, so doubling the number of APs to setup, tear down, and manage was something I wanted to avoid. Also, the Ubiquity gear mostly is not table-top form-factor. It's mean for pole-mounting. Not a good match for our needs.

As far as doing a crap job of serving both bands, that's been my experience with very cheap units. These units on the other hand, both the Netgear and DLink, have performed admirably.

Sean

I've found the worst cause of this is if updates aren't pushed out, but rely on application updaters, Adobe releases a new version of Flash or Reader, user installs it blindly hitting "Next", Google Toolbar gets installed and the web browser comes to a full and complete stop. I've seen this happen on SEVERAL occasions

This. We use Windows servers, but for designers and other people who store important files on their local machine rather than the server, after several hard drive crashes that proved they were disobeying the directive to not do this, we now employ folder redirection. How this works is that in our domain policy, certain folders (such as My Documents) and files (Outlook PST's) are actually stored on the file server, even though it appears to be "local" to the user. We also use the offline files feature and file synchronization in the case of notebook users so that they may have access to the files when not on our LAN.

I'm sure there is some equivalent way to do this on a Mac.

The firefox addon Live HTTP Headers will provide all the redirect information you'll need although it's not the sort of thing an average user will be able to decipher.

Major web development projects with IE6 have ended. In the Battle of the Internet, Mozilla Firefox and our Webkit competitors have prevailed. And now our team is engaged in programming and redesigning that site.

Name for a metal band or an emerging trend in entomology? Let's go to our roundtable...

You cannot expect developers to waste time to support edge cases like this. Because while it isn't hard per se to test and get a site functioning across all browsers, it can take considerable time. Even the smallest quirks can take days to iron out. It's a huge source of frustration.

It isn't ideal to shun folks using a shitty browser, but at what point does the pendulum swing the other way? I don't see how pissing away man hours to support IE6 is going to compel those users to upgrade.

As I see it, we do care about these folks, because if we can finally drop support for a dated, incapable browser, then we can finally focus on delivering solid browsing experiences quicker and more effectively.

It's a thin line. Nobody wants to wall off visitors from their content, but at some point, the folks who can't be bothered to switch to free, widely available alternatives should be left behind.

I do, and since cable providers have to carry the local networks' digital broadcasts via Clear-QAM, I even watch them in HD. If I were really frugal (i.e. not married), I could ditch my cable subscription altogether and fetch those Clear-QAM broadcasts OTA with an antenna. Live sporting events are the easiest to enjoy without submitting to the cable company.

Yes, I can do without if the game isn't on a major network. A man's got to know his limitations.

I've done it successfully before, but it required a custom built version of LIRC and some hacking at shell scripts. Not impossible or difficult, but even with a MythTV installation, I just wanted a straightforward setup without the additional STB profaning my TV cabinet.

Hence, I gave up on HD from the cable company save for the Clear-QAM channels recorded with my HDHomerun. We get all of the major broadcast networks and several PBS stations, and that seems to gratify my wife and me. Everything else is standard definition. Not gorgeoous but cheap and malleable from an end-user standpoint.

Digital cable is a no go until we can plug the cable into the device of my choice (w/ assistance from a CableCard if necessary) and peruse as we see fit. Simplicity trumps value, AV quality, and all other incentives to upgrade for us.

demonlapin probably uses AT&T. My wife and I just bought her mother a cell phone. AT&T is the carrier that most folks in her small town in a hilly part of the country use, so we opted to get a plan with them.

We check her bill a week after getting the plan and there were several text message charges. A real headscratcher, because her mom is a major technophobe. No way she sent any text messages.

Turns out AT&T sends your phone text messages when you make changes to your plan/profile online which my wife did. Bizarre, but you get charged for those text messages from AT&T. Had to call them to get that sorted out.

Insane. My wife and I are going to get new cell phones and ditch the landline (hers, I moved in, I swear) in the next couple of months. This experience has us looking elsewhere than AT&T for our service.

I actually prefer the Logitech Marble Mouse, because the trackball is controlled by my index and (to a lesser extent) middle fingers. Considerably faster and more precise than with the thumb controlled ball.

Big drawback is the lack of a scroll wheel on the Marble Mouse though. Best paired with a keyboard that has a scroll wheel on the left side. Best I ecame across in that regard was a Logitech Internet Navigator, but it had unforgiveable function keys that were programmed for weird functions rather than the standard F1-F12 keys. Had to hit a function-lock button every time I booted.

If anyone has a recommendation for a keyboard with scroll wheel (preferrably on the left side of the keyboard so it can be used with the non-mouse hand), I'll friend you.

I have been considering this more of late as I utilize my new netbook. It's my first portable computer ever; I've clutched to my desktop since the beginning of time.

My comfort with this is directly related to who I can trust to store my data with. Right now, it's not a big enough need, so I'm reluctant. However, I can see my needs growing to a point where I'm going to take the plunge.

Any recommendations or horror stories anyone wants to share are welcome here.

I disagree. I see the mobile computing market falling into three categories now:

1) Smartphones. These are taking the place of the netbooks of old that were tiny (i.e. 9-10"). Plenty capable of doing e-mail, texting, IM, etc., and somehow, folks are browsing the web with them too.

2) Newer netbooks. Anywhere from 9-12" with an emphasis on low power consumption and better battery life. You do e-mail, web, and all of that jazz as with smartphones but with considerable amentities that make traditional computing possible (e.g. better keyboard, larger screen, numerous ports for expandability).

3) Desktop replacement laptops. Anything larger and more powerful than the netbook described in #2. They come with even larger screens, full sized keyboard with numeric keypads, discrete graphics chips, and beefier internals like large hard drives, optical drives, multiple cores, and Library of Congress sized RAM. While "portable," the downside is that you're chained to an electrical outlet, because these bad boys devour electricity. Some have coal-fired chipsets in them (just kidding).

I'd argue that #2 will be the largest source of growth in PCs (including smartphones) in the next few years. Unless you sleep in a different city every night or need to get your pixel shading game on, these new netbooks will fill your needs toward both ends of the scale very nicely. It's a big, wide bell curve that favors the new netbooks.