Journaling on estrip is easy and free. sign up here

Jim's Journal

jim
My Podcast Link

09/21/2007 12:52 #41230

$1000 a Month
Category: internet
Carrier short codes for SMS messages are $1000 a month. (That's the way you can text to or from a really short number, like 22345). I didn't think it would be that expensive. And that's just the cost for the CSC number, there are addiitional higher charges for receiving and sending messages from CSC's as opposed to normal numbers.

Guess I'll need a long number! 716-998-1987 is harder to remember then 23560, though.
paul - 09/21/07 20:17
You can definitely use a GSM modem with sim card attached to a server to send out the messages. Then you just buy an unlimited messaging account from tmobile for that sim card.

I think that SMS is in its death throws. Honestly, after years of closely following mobile telfony I am sure that it is yesterday;'s technology and that most cell phones are going to go in the direction of email very soon. Many, many of them already have.
james - 09/21/07 14:35
Hey Jim, someone smeared geek all over your journal.
jim - 09/21/07 14:05
I mostly need to send outgoing SMS's at this point, so doing without a short code isn't that big a deal for my project.

I think the better browsers and get (mobile safari for example), and mobile email too), the less relevant the SMS racket will be.
jim - 09/21/07 14:02
Yeah, Paul was telling me that I should just tether a cell phone to a server and send them out that way, but my server is in a rack in San Diego, and so...
zobar - 09/21/07 14:01
So you pay per month for your short code, and then you pay per-message for using the API. GOD THIS INDUSTRY IS SO SHADY. Network providers screw service providers and service providers screw content providers and everyone screws the end user. How many people could you possibly bill for sending one 160-byte packet over the network? Let's find out ...

Now that I think about it, my previous phone [Sony Ericsson T616] could operate over Bluetooth as a Hayes-compatible modem. There were special AT commands you could issue to it; there was probably one for sending SMS.

- Z
jim - 09/21/07 13:57
Well you don't need a short code, but whether or not you have a shortcode you need either a web gateway API to call or a cell system interface terminal. The costs for sending a message seem to be around $0.05 per text, and you have to buy at least $25 worth at a time.
jim - 09/21/07 13:44
It's an API call, usually just in an encoded url like this describes: :::link:::

But some of the you have to submit XML packets with the message info. You need to pay for a short code, and then pay a gateway service for an API connection, and your site can send SMS messages directly.

Alternatively there are actual cell devices that you'd hook up to your server and send messages with over the regular cell networks, but I am not too clear on what's involved with that route.

zobar - 09/21/07 13:40
Funny, we were just solicited by a mobile service provider. Question: once you have a short-code, how do you submit SMSes to the network?

- Z

09/20/2007 20:27 #41221

Roswell Park Memorial Mace
Category: work
The Roswell Park Cancer Institute Memorial Mace

image

Yes, an honored stick with which to beat people, in a glass class by Human Resources.

And even better, an illustrated history of the evolution of medicine:

image

(view large here)

Including these highlights:

Centaurs curse humankind with illness, including cancer.

Greeks like to have sex with other men and also fail to cure cancer.

An old Jew wears pointy shoes and withholds secret knowledge of how to fight cancer.

Some guy invented very small drippy zeppelins that fail to cure cancer.

Madam Curie returns from the dead in radiant form, but no one can see her cure for cancer.

There is another secret ghost hiding behind the ghost of Madam Curie. We do not know his story.

Scientists are too poor to own chairs, so you should donate money to RPCI. To help them cure cancer.

Cacti are taking over the world, a new form of mega-cancer.

An African looking mask likes to leer at reclining nude women. Something something cancer.

jim - 09/21/07 15:04
I bet you're siding with the centaurs.
mrdeadlier - 09/21/07 14:59
Thanks for ruining the magic
lauren - 09/21/07 10:55
haha. stupid cancer.
james - 09/20/07 20:52
leering at nude women cases cancer.

Thankfully the last lime i leered at a nude woman I just breast fed for the last time.

09/18/2007 21:14 #41184

Finally, Router/NAS/Printer Solution
Category: tech
I ordered an Apple Airport. I am sorely in need of a more reliable network connection, so hopefully this will ease my sorrows. Plus it's Wireless N. A step up.

But, the best part, and why it was worth a little extra money to go this route, is that i can hook up a USB hub to it and attach the printer and my backup hard drives and (most importantly) my photo storage hard drives. I'll reduce clutter on my desk and everything will always be available to (e:James) too.

I've only got a few GB's left on my notebook hard drive, so I desperately needed to get a better photo storage plan. Right now they are all on my notebook and one backup drive and one CD per month. Now the recent ones only will be on my notebook, and there will be two external hard drives plus the CD backups. Sweet. And I have my favorite / best photos stored online too, for offsite backup.

I think running out of space is slowing down my laptop. Need to keep some space free for sleep and scratch.
carolinian - 09/19/07 16:25
We have some airports at work to distribute internet access at the factory via WDS. They're nice and work well. We're not using them for NAS/printing, though we probably could if we really wanted to.

Is that an answer to make you sufficiently happy?

joshua - 09/19/07 16:02
I am a technophilistine!
james - 09/19/07 13:49
The lack of comments on this journal makes me think that people are not nearly as excited as we are about this.

philistine dogs!

09/18/2007 14:02 #41177

2 Years
Category: life
I am sort of a wreck today.



I can't believe it's been two years already.

I miss you, Mom.
fellyconnelly - 09/18/07 23:45
I couldn't imagine how hard that must be for you. She sounds like an amazing woman who lived an amazing life. You and your dad must be so proud of her and who she was for you and those people who needed her.
jim - 09/18/07 23:30
Thanks Koocity and James, for your kind words :)
kookcity2000 - 09/18/07 23:26
dude I'm quite sorry: Losing a parent is always hard, especially when its quite unexpected.
It brings a lot down on you and I only hope that in these years you've worked through some of it and its not as hard as it was.
jbeatty - 09/18/07 23:18
I'm sorry. Losing a parent sucks. My father died 8 years ago. I would have to say it doesn't exactly get easier but after several years you tend to not think about it every day.
drew - 09/18/07 22:46
sympathy.
mike - 09/18/07 22:12
I can't even imagine losing a parent. I'm sure it never gets easier but I hope it does for you.
jim - 09/18/07 22:04
Thanks, Del
mrdeadlier - 09/18/07 21:55
I'll echo Jenks here and say that your mom seemed like a really cool person. You have my sympathy.
jim - 09/18/07 20:35
Thanks, everyone!
jenks - 09/18/07 20:30
Hugs.
Losing a parent is about my biggest fear. :(
From your post, your mom sounds amazing. I'm sure she's proud of you. :)
I hope that with every year the good memories outweigh the sadness more and more.
hodown - 09/18/07 15:26
I'm so sorry.
jim - 09/18/07 15:26
Thanks, Paul. I just miss her a lot. No need to pray about anything :)
paul - 09/18/07 15:22
I don't even know what to say other than hang in there. I think people normally say, "My prayers are with you." but I think my prayers might be worthless at this point.
james - 09/18/07 15:06
Hope it is easier this year Jim.

09/18/2007 13:21 #41175

NOOOOOOOOO
Category: books
So, author Robert Jordan died.

He was working on Book 12 of 'The Wheel of Time'. A series that I started reading about a decade ago. This was supposed to be the last book and would've wrapped everything up. I am sorry he is dead. But mostly I am mad that I can't finish the series, and I'll tell you why.

The first few books of the series were really really good, but then it just started dragging on FOREVER. The last 5 books, nothing much happened. And I read them anyways just to work towards closure and find out what happens. But now I've invested so much time in the thing that the fact it's going to have over my head for the rest of my life is aggravating. If I knew the man I"d feel differently, but impersonally from a distance this is what I'm upset about.
jim - 09/18/07 23:51
James, as museumchick mentioned it looks like he dictacted the plot of the book to a tape recorder, so Kevin J Anderson may get his shot at patching it all up into a final product. I have mixed feelings about it, since I am desperate for closure.
james - 09/18/07 15:05
I don't know if he had any children, but if he did (particularly a son) you can look forward to the last book co-written with Kevin J Anderson in a few years... and then a TON of crappy fan-fics written by the pair that keep the franchise going.
museumchick - 09/18/07 13:39
A friend was telling me that he dictated the ending to some of his friends- so they might be able to finish the 12th book for him.