Tuesday, March 16

Internet Tech Support Diagnostics by Ken A. helps check modem, Internet, and Network control panel settings. One thing it won't tell you: Ken's last name.

Motorola has filed suit against Intel, alleging that Intel attempted to obtain trade secrets by hiring Motorola employees.

Microsoft will release Internet Explorer 5.0 on March 18. The Administration Kit will be available the same day. The new browser offers refinements such as better auto-completion and searching, and the ability to store multiple user profiles. CNET has an IE 5.0 sneak peak.

Point-Topic is tracking DSL deployment in Europe.

A new report from the Strategis Group examines projects cable modem revenues. The global cable modem industry is expected to have revenues of US$6.4 billion in 2003.

Wired News looks at the advertising revenues Free-PC expects to collect on the 10,000 computers they gave away. In the future, Free-PC may give away Linux boxes.

You can stop reading now. This next part's just for fun.

The Onion reports that African tribesmen are adopting IBM modem technology:

According to Ndeti, of the modem's many powerful features, most impressive was its hard plastic casing, which easily sustained several minutes of vigorous pounding against a large stone. "I put the nut on a rock, and I hit it with the modem," Ndeti said. "The modem did not break. It is a good modem."

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Friday, March 19

For the past nearly two years that 56K.COM has been online, I've posted a note at Thanksgiving that there would be no news because of the holiday. For fifteen years, my brother and I have gone to Georgia to spend Thanksgiving with my father and stepmother.

My father passed away this week. He was 69.

He any my mother grew up in the Great Depression and witnessed World War II while they were still teenagers. They later survived the death of my brother Stacey and the loss of their first business to a fire. My father was a Marine who served in Korea during that war.

I dedicated my first book to my mother and father, and I'm so glad that I did now. I bought my first house in January and I was looking forward to him coming to see it. That will never happen now. The woman I marry will never know my father, and my children will never know their grandfather. I'm glad that dad got to see me graduate high school and college, and that he and mom put aside their differences and came together to college graduation.

When a person who is close to you dies, you always wish you had spent more time with them. You can't spend too much time with someone you love. I was glad I had talked to him on the phone this past Sunday. An ice storm kept us from visiting him at Christmas, and I regret that we didn't make it up to him afterwards.

People's kindness means a lot at times like this. I appreciate everyone who offered support. During the past few days I have been especially grateful to my mother and stepmother. While he was alive they treated my father with more kindness than any man could ask for. After his death they treated each other with respect and sympathy.

He's survived by my mother and stepmother, my brother and sister, and a wealth of loving family in Georgia.

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