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I’ve been having a crapload of trouble with my Late ‘06 macbook.

So far I’ve had

• Two logic board replacements (and I need a third)
• At least two heatpipe / thermal replacements
• The display panel replaced
• The battery replaced at least twice
• The charger replaced

.  This last time the repair depot replaced the logic board, clearly it was a hardware problem, but they decided to wipe my hard disk for some inexplicable reason, and install 10.4 even though it had 10.6 installed.  Which was OK, I had a backup.  But by the time I spent the 4-5 hours doing the Time Machine restore and rebooted it wasn’t starting up anymore.  That’s right, the new logic board died on the second reboot.  Basically, the repair depot gave me a faulty part and wiped my machine.  Thanks for the help.

I’ve gone through three  logic boards (including the one it came with).  If I ship it to the repair depot and they give me fourth logic board, what’s to stop that one from breaking too?

I’m a software developer for a living, and I depend on this machine for my livelihood.  And when it has three major issues in the last 4 months, I can’t depend on it.

After having a few run-ins with various over-enterprising institutions, I’ve gotten a pretty good grasp on the state of US Wi-Fi law.  Behold, a FAQ.

First of all, you have a right to run Wi-Fi networks, period.  The landowner can throw a hissy fit all they like, but (more often than not) you can still set up your hotspot.  The rationale is pretty simple.

1.  The 2.4GHz band is owned by the public.  This isn’t a “landowner’s right”, where each landowner “owns” the radio waves traveling over his/her particular land.  It’s like airspace.  American Airlines doesn’t consult with you before they fly planes over your house; they consult with the FAA.  Similarly, you don’t consult with the landowner before broadcasting radio waves, you consult with the FCC.

2.  The FCC has given you permission to broadcast on 2.4GHz (erm, the part that WiFi uses anyway, there are some IRM bands that are still licensed airwaves).  This is like the FAA saying you can fly over above 3500 feet–who you’re flying over has no say in the matter.

3.  Claims of “you can’t use hotspots because they interfere with our network” are not legally sound.  In the eyes of the law, “their network” is no more legitimate than yours, and they have no claim (either through landowner rights or through “first use”) to the airwaves.  If they want their own band, they can pay the FCC for licensed spectrum.  Otherwise, they have to share it with you/everyone.  Period.

4.  This leads to something extremely interesting–it’s perfectly legal to “jam” unlicensed 2.4GHz space (as long as you don’t interfere with licensed space or broadcast louder than the normal WiFi ceiling).  In particular, it’s perfectly legal to use beacon-layer flooding (bringing up lots of imaginary hotspots) or to talk over transmitters (as long as you don’t go above allowed transmit power).

5.  You cannot “sniff” conversations (encrypted or unencrypted) to which you are not a party (47cfr15.9).  There was an incident in the not-distant past in which an organization was sniffing wi-fi packets in order to determine the identity of persons operating “unauthorized” networks.  This is illegal.  Furthermore, if the AP is encrypted, it very likely meets the “access without authorization” test, rendering it a federal trespass crime.  It is also my considered (but untested) opinion that breaking WEP/WPA is additionally DMCA violation in some cases.

Okay, well maybe I can’t ban radio transmission, but as the landowner, surely I can keep hotspots (the physical boxes) off my property?

Actually, no.  Sure, if the Hotspot Bandit runs on your property, you can issue him a trespass warning, and he and his hotspot can go broadcast on the curb.  But if we’re talking about a legal resident / tenant, they can have whatever hotspots they want.  Huh?

It’s simple, really.  There are rules about what landlords can and cannot do.  They can’t not rent to black people or to women or to handicapped people.  They also can’t tell you that you can’t use a hotspot.  The FCC’s reasoning goes like this: since the 2.4ghz spectrum is unlicensed, anyone can broadcast on it.  The only reason to ban hotspots is to prevent people from accessing public airwaves.  Therefore, landowners can’t ban them.

The FCC has ruled like this on case after case–against residential landlords, airports, everybody.  As long as you have “exclusive use” of an area (basically, you can deny random people off the street entry), you can install a WiFi hotspot.  Period.  (You can also install small satellite dishes and many other kinds of antennas, and you can even put things on a mast above the roofline, subject to some safety restrictions.)

But my lease / the rules say X and Y!

I can write a lease that says you can’t have any Asian guests.  That doesn’t make it even remotely legal.  And if anybody tried to enforce it, there would be hell to pay.  Same with WiFi.

But… but…

Sorry.  That’s clearly and unequivocally the law.

I just moved this site over to a new VPS. Should be a little snappier.

It’s been… over a year since I posted here last? Time for that to change. What’s new?

• Experiment House.  We can’t really decide if we’re a startup, small business…
  • Bitloot.  Open-source funding.
  • Sqrt(2), awesome news (hit me up for an invite).
• I’ve been doing some behind-the-scenes music production for music and TV.  All under NDA and uncredited, but hey…  it paid.
• I’m currently working on putting Pong on a chip.  I’ve got a bunch of arcade controls, arduinos… all spread throughout my room.  It’s going to be pretty awesome.  Never done any hardware hacking before, and this is pretty ambitious.  But I can do it.
• Some really cool algorithm projects.  Check the tab above.
• Some really cool time hacks, which I hope to blog about soon.  I’ve been making heavy use of Evernote and Dropbox, and I’m working on an awesome top-secret productivity system called Staples that adds hours to my day.
• I’m looking for work this summer.  Know anyone who needs a top-notch coder?  Have this resume.

I’m finished with the book. Below are my immediate thoughts. I don’t spoil anything important, but give my general impression of the book. If you are the “tell me nothing until after I read it” sort, please go read some other post.

On the whole, the focus of this book shifted quite far away from Hogwarts. Only the last few chapters take place there, and all other Hogwarts info is carried only via news reports to the main characters. While this is a welcome change, I do feel that some of the most interesting bits of the book are things we find about thirdhand from those actually at Hogwarts.

There is a wealth of information revealed about Snape, over two entire chapters. I feel mostly positive about this–it was new, yet seem to fit and explain his character well. Several things I had predicted, but some I had not. There is even more information revealed about Albus Dumbledore’s past (over a quarter of the book). Rowling took significant steps to break his archetype, and while I can understand why she dealt him the cards she delt from an author’s perspective, I would have taken his character development in a distinctively different direction.

I can assure you that the unknown Horcrux proved to be most satisfactory, possibly the most well-written part in the entire series. Many have predicted it, but none have predicted quite the fantastic turn of events which take place. The “almost” unknown Horcrux (described as something of Hufflepuff’s or Ravenclaw’s in book 6) was something I predicted. While it is not Snape’s potion book, a careful read of its origins and destinations will identify it quite cleverly. You will kick yourself if you don’t find it.

Harry’s character development was phenomenally brilliant, wildly exceeding my expectations. I’m sure it is highly archetypal, but it certainly doesn’t seem that way at the time of read. Harry’s experiences help shift the book away from HBP’s (and many fans’) obsession with death, specifically that of Dumbledore, but also of several other characters whodie. I will say no more here about that, but this novel places a certain respect and awe upon Harry that I had previously reserved for Dumbledore, and this turn of events was highly unexpected.

Voldemort, at least at the beginning of the book, is completely frightening. This is not your standard “Voldemort is out there lurking” book; I’m positive Rowling drew inspiration from the Nazi Holocaust. Voldemort is faced with an interesting decision in the last chapter and I would have been most interested to see what would have happened if he were to have chosen otherwise, however I can understand why Rowling made him do what he did.

Incidental information about Lily, Aunt Petunia, etc. help bring out these minor characters a bit more.

Harry gains an additional task in addition to destroying the Horcruxes, that which bears the book’s title. For some reason Rowling’s “Oh by the way…” manner of introducing new magic out of thin air (Philosopher’s stone, etc.) has always struck me as cheating, and she continues that tradition… a bit. However, once it is introduced, the task of the Hallows is completely believable, and its shocking twist will have me rereading on the 21st with everyone else. I keep telling myself the only reason I didn’t figure it out is because I haven’t slept in over 24 hours, but that’s probably not true.

The epilogue provided fairly good closure to the series. I do wish that it was longer; I would have liked to have known what had happened to some of the more minor characters. There are a few minor loose ends Rowling obviously forgot about, however 99% has been covered. It is highly unlikely that this series will be continued by Rowling. This is truly the last book.

Original post by Drew Crawford