As the family geek, I generally receive calls or get shuffled off to check a computer when I go and visit someone, and although I enjoy doing it, there are times when I wish I could put some of it on auto-pilot. Given that, I recently came across a new tool (Windows only) called OpenWith.org more »

You say you first thought that the plot of “Live Free or Die Hard” was simply the product of a screenwriter’s overheated imagination? That the idea of cyberterrorists taking over electric utility/natural gas/traffic/financial market computer systems was just too far-fetched to be believed, even though it was uber-cool to see Bruce Willis take down a fighter jet with his bare hands?

O ye of little faith in Hollywood. Remember, the 9/11 Commission faulted U.S. intelligence agencies for having “a failure of imagination.” And “Live Free or Die Hard’s” script was partially based on a non-fiction article in Wired Magazine that described the scenario for a so-called “fire sale” attack on America’s infrastructure.

Plug your PC into a wall electrical outlet, and that’s all your need to surf the web at high speeds. Tell the cable and DSL service providers where they can stuff their plugs, while you ride the wave of yet another next-generation technology at cheaper prices.

Well…not yet.

It’s been a bad couple of weeks for the concept of broadband over power line (BPL), which the Federal Communications Commission has been touting since 2003 as possible pricing competition for cable and DSL providers. It’s only a pilot program in a handful of cities, but the FCC commissioned studies on the technology and wanted an accelerated rollout of the program. Now you can scratch one of those cities off the list, while the FCC studies themselves are being attacked by amateur radio operators.