Faxes and modems can work reliably over VOIP if the on ramp uses V150.1 Modem Over IP. I am familiar with an application that depends on this and it works quite well with our modem equipped devices.

Cisco has a gateway with V150.1 and it works well.

I do not expect this to be widely implemented until people demand it once they know it can work.

I have helped develop a VOIP phone and I always considered them a dumb idea for all but big installations for government and business. Made no sense for home users. But...

I just switched to VOIP this month after wondering for years why I am paying both land line and broadband. So, I cut out Verizon. The cost savings are marginal. Am not using FIOS or Verizon for broadband.

VOIP quality and reliability are maybe just ahead of that for the cell phone. So we do pay as much as the market will bear for lessor, but more convenient service. All I got for the switch is more phone features that would otherwise be priced a la carte by the phone company. What you used to get with POTS was high reliability, which will be and is being eroded over time as companies like Verizon push people to FIOS and provide no support to land line maintenance. The street side termination box for Verizon is often closed (by their people) with wires dangling outside of it. It always amazed me that my phone would still ring.

The security of the POTS line is history. Everyone is on their own.

I remember the glory days of the Republican opposition to Bill Clinton where every federal law that imposed a requirement on local governments was termed an unfunded mandate. This is an unfunded mandate on all of us. Besides being just plan stupid.

Is this from the same guy that said the Internet was just a series of pipes? Heck, I don't think my shower keeps track of my water use, should it be doing that too?

Bankers turned out to incompetent crooks, the auto companies just plan fools, and too many Americans are out of work. But, what does congress worry about? Dumb asses.

I've always known my 2 year old 42" LG TV uses a lot of energy for the TV Guide On Screen feature since the processor is never off. Reading this story made me find the box to see if it claimed an Energy Star rating, and to my surprise, LG was honest and there is none.

This model comes with a built-in DVR and its disk drive never spins down, you can always hear the hum when it is quiet. But, I figure it is no more wasteful than the DVR in my previous set top boxes.

Nice thing about it being always on is that I have my computer turn the TV on and off with its wake up, shutdown, and sleep modes using the serial port control. Can't have everything.

Coding should not be more than 30% of a job. We need people than can read specifications, turn them into requirements, design an architecture, model solutions, code, integrate, document, and debug. I am sorry, but the talented and rewarded people are the ones that can do it all. The ones that can't code and prefer to administer systems are the easiest to replace.

Where I work, we do embedded software that runs close the hardware, operates in critical environments, must work every time, run for years, and be secure. The guys I give the highest performance ratings (raises) to are the ones that can design, code, re-use code, and solve problems.

I haven't coded in 5 years and miss it, so I came up with a project for home to keep me current and have fun with. I can see not wanting to do it 8 hours a day, but any true CS geek deep down enjoys it like solving puzzles and playing games. Coding is problem solving. It should be enjoyed and done well or not at all.

More about using a face photo and fake tag for tripping up someone else at a speed camera...

There was an episode of the old TV show Columbo (I think) where a murderer used their image from a speed camera as an alibi to prove they could not have committed the crime. Am accomplice held up the photo over their face as they triggered the speed camera while the crime was taking place. Columbo saw that the photo lighting wasn't right and as always nabbed the bad guy.

Still, the combination of a fake license and a holding a photo up over your own is a great way to mess up the process. Gotta give it to the kids to come up with something. Now if only such thinking would make a new product we could have the .com days all over again.

If you want to see people complaining about Apple, go to the Apple Discussions board. When there is a problem with a new release of software or a product, you will find open discussion there. Of course, beyond a limit Apple will step in a squash a discussion. That's what freedom is all about in the 21st century.