Acro.net – Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

When computer technology advances, I don’t simply move on. I’m known for keeping old, functioning computer gear for years.

In the case of my original laptop – a 2004 Compaq I’ll affectionately call “The Brick” – the gear itself hasn’t quite gone out of fashion. I recently doubled its RAM to 2 Gb and the installed Windows XP 64bit still delivers some good performance.

Not only do I like “The Brick” for its sturdy construction and sheer weight, but it has a tall, non-reflective wide screen. When I shopped for a new laptop early this year, every single model had a reflective screen; I ended up buying a lightweight SONY VAIO that shines like a mirror when sunlight hits it.

Back to “The Brick”. As the old faithful alternative to my main box, “The Brick” worked particularly well, even gained a secondary partition with Ubuntu Linux along the way.

But I never expected to wake up one morning and find a “black screen of hardware death” on its screen, the drive spinning with the sound of a lawnmower cutting through an Amazonian weed forest.

The drive was unbootable, spinning on its axis all while screeching. On it were several hundred indispensable family photos, that I had never thought of backing up to another medium. Somehow, due to the non-continuous use of “The Brick”, I foolishly believed that the hard drive would outlast the OS installed on it, but Bill Gates had to prove me wrong.

I searched for data restoration services; each and every one of them offered to do the job for no less than $1,000 – the cost would rise to $1,500 if certain mechanical issues were involved. Although one cannot put a price on hundreds of family photos, tossing a grand plus out of the window didn’t seem like the last option I should have.

Upon attempting to boot, the drive took a lot of stress, so I wondered how it’d behave as a secondary drive. Lo and behold, I searched on Amazon.com for hardware cases that’d allow me to plug the laptop drive to my main box as an external device.

After some research, I decided against the generic drive cases, as most of them have no power supply of their own, relying completely on USB power and also they are specific to the type of one’s drive; in my case, an old 80Gb PATA made by Toshiba.

Further research took me to this wonderful multi-function connector that cost $19.99 and free ground shipping. The device supports 2.5″ (laptop) and 3.5″ drives, both IDE/PATA and SATA connectors and it came in a nice box with all the necessary cables and connectors. Quite possibly, the best item I’ve received this year with a Made in China stamp on it.

The manufacturer can be found at Sabrent.com

After plugging the adapter into the mains, I connected the drive to its power supply. The drive chirped rather pleasantly; the USB 2.0 cable was connected to my main box and sure enough, the drive was seen by Windows and everything was found in place, fully intact.

I backed up all the photos and other files that I had forgotten they existed; overall a great investment that saved me several thousand dollars and a whole lot of stress.

A must-have gadget to be used as the last resort before emptying your bank account in order to hand the drive over to expensive data recovery services!

Just four days ago I wrote about how a controversial new indirect taxation would affect thousands of .GR domains and their cash-starved operators; most of them Greek entrepreneurs operating portals, news web sites and forums.

That indirect taxation – called “aggeliosimo” – was meant to be an extension of the current taxation implemented onto press (magazine, newspapers) radio and television advertising.

The good news is, that by some unexplained reasoning that particular article was removed from the massive law up for voting this week at the Greek parliament.

Therefore, aggeliosimo no longer applies to Internet advertising.

Surely the backlash was enough for the law-drafting pencil pushers to realize that the introduction of the aggeliosimo tax was not only unethical, but also impractical to collect: Good luck with collecting that 21.5% aggeliosimo from Google Adwords advertisers.

It’s unfortunate that a lot of things in Greece are done under pressure and without much planning, when it comes down to technological progress. This is a lesson in provisioning laws according to their impact to society and business, not simply to collect a few “drachmas” here and there.

What is worse than having inept leaders?

To answer that question, one has to take a look at the number of anti-social measures stacked together onto a gigantic law up for vote this coming week at the Greek parliament.

Hit by a ballooning debt that was inflated by financial games played upon the back of state-issued bonds, the Greek government – elected under the socialist flag and led by American born George Papandreou, son and grandson of prime ministers – has shocked the Greek social strata by introducing a number of changes Greece hasn’t seen since the era of Dracon, 28 centuries ago.

The introduction of multiple layers of taxation, pension cuts and elimination of benefits for the elderly and women with children is about to alter Greek society for good. Wages in Greece, already at the bottom of the European Union with a monthly 700 euro average, are about to shrink even lower, due to immediate and secondary taxation layers.

Those that accused Greece of “partying” with loaned money need to have their facts checked; Greece is at the bottom of fund-absorbing countries in the EU, due to the sheer amount of red tape and the ever-changing direction of every elected government; the primarily bi-partisan system often leads to changes of power, much like Democrats and Republicans in the US. Debt ballooned primarily through the raising of interest rates and the bidding of international hedge fund managers such as Goldman Sachs against the Greek debt. At the same time, tax-evasion became the national sport thanks to the ineptitude of the government to police its own tax-gathering system.

Surely there is a number of healthy elements in this ongoing chaos, where those working in the public sector – a large, bureaucratic beast – grew, fed and multiplied sapping the energy of the much healthier private sector and the entrepreneurs.

Since its introduction in the early 1990′s, the Greek Internet has remained a relatively untapped territory with regards to government intervention; with the ever-increased globalization of services and the proliferation of web portals serving news and information via blogs, the government is now seizing the opportunity to add yet another level of taxation – simply because they can do so.

Enter, the aggeliosimo.

Starting July 1st, a special taxation of 21.5% referred to as “aggeliosimo” (literally: announcement tax) will apply to all advertising that Greek-based web and Internet portals engage into. In other words, operators of web forums, portals, news or information web sites in the .GR realm will have to collect an additional 21.5% from their advertisers and submit it to a special fund set aside for the Social Security Fund of journalists.

It is not clear which government pencil-pusher is the brilliant inventor of this incredible manifestation of entrepreneurial strangulation. Effectively, the 21.5% taxation will immediately strip thousands of .GR sites that carry advertisements of their source of income, as it will surely lead advertisers to portals outside of Greece.

No entrepreneur or corporation in their right mind would want to spend 21.5% more for the same amount of advertising, just because the Greek government wishes to expand its reach into untapped territory, particularly when the funds collected would benefit a well-established Social Security fund.

At the same time, the same legislation forces web portals that present a constant feed of news and information to insure their personnel under new, more expensive pension groups that would increase the piece of the pie ending into the hands of the Greek IRS.

It is uncertain how this will affect PPC companies that appear on parked .GR web sites along with major other advertising channels, such as Google Adwords. It would be interesting to see how the Greek government would enforce the collection of a 21.5% fee from Google, for ads that are displayed on .GR web sites. The process is clearly impossible and it will lead to the collapse of advertising on .GR web sites.

Overall, the decision to stifle the entrepreneurial spirit and technological investment in Greece is a clear shot in the foot of a government and the nation it’s supposed to represent.

As the Greek Prime Minister, Mr. George Papandreou is clearly incapable of retaining a clear, honest and effective control of the situation and is leading the country into social unrest, financial turmoil and towards the technological Dark Ages.

My definition of a Sabbatical is the soul-searching break from a world that is polluted with technology and inhuman interactions.

Humans – more often than what we think – need a break from the things that appear to offer instant gratification and to perform tasks that allow us to interact with unnatural elements.

Considering that each and every one of us is born from a womb, carried for several months inside the Mother’s belly, the next best thing to experiencing that flotation is swimming.

Spending time inside bodies of water, such as the sea, lakes, rivers or even the pool is a way to relieve one’s stress.

The key element though, is to abandon all distractions behind. No cellphones. No radio. No email. No computers. Instead, grab a book, a glass of your favorite beverage and absorb the sounds of nature.

Being on a Sabbatical means that you learn the things you *thought* you had learned – all over again. You look closer at the details in front of you, at low level. You bow to nature, you respect it, you don’t antagonize it. You forget for a while that the Internet ever existed or that modern communication often exclusively involves a screen and a keyboard.

As humans we need healing of personal matters, to unleash the junk we often carry along; the burnout from technology is far too much at times. Relaxation during a Sabbatical involves both your mind, your spirit and your body – a triad of personal elements that defines you as a human being.

Make this the last blog post that you will read for a while and embark on a short and gratifying journey, simply to rediscover yourself.

When I read in the news about Joran van der Sloot it’s hard not to remember a novel I read, oh so long ago.

The Talented Mr. Ripley, a thriller revolving around the personality of a young American and wannabe socialite in Europe, is among Patricia Highsmith’s finest novels. When I read it in 1985, it was at an era during which – unlike today – life passed without many daily visual obstructions; there was no Internet, no cellphones, TV had horrible programs (it still does) and the Cold War was still raging.

Somehow, reading about the murderous inclinations of a young man who manages to control his emotions and perform the “perfect murder” was a leap away from all those Agatha Christie novels; where the murderer is uncovered in the end, having made one too many mistakes.

Joran van der Sloot managed to do just that, and despite his many mistakes he was able to utilize the legal system to his benefit for several years. A young man, without having as much as finished college, he seemed to perversely enjoy his fortunate fate; unlike that of Natalee Holloway whom he most likely killed or murdered.

Ironically, on the very 5th anniversary of Natalee Holloway’s murder, perhaps by extrapolating his guilt, anger and clear signs of self-destructiveness, Joran van der Sloot apparently committed yet another crime. The body of Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramirez was found in remote Peru, with multiple stab wounds that denote struggle, perhaps against a failed date-rape attempt using pills.

Unlike psychological novels, however, this is real life.

Joran van der Sloot is an un-talented Mr. Ripley, no matter how much sympathy is left in those that support the notion of “innocent until proven guilty“. The personality, acts and apparent disrespect towards human life of this Dutch man will most likely be used in future literature and movies, web sites and online debates.