How to reset Motorola WiNG 5 Controller to Factory Defaults

I searched and searched so you don't have to!  If you want to reset the password on a Motorola controller running WiNG 5, you need to connect to the console and login as "reset / FactoryDefault".  No need to thank me!  Really, they should make this information more readily accessible...!

An alternative to iTunes Software

Like millions of other people I own an iPod. I bought it a few years ago, not because I feel the need to own everything with an Apple logo on it,  but because it's small, very portable and because I like the ubiquitous support for car connections and the myriad of accessories.   In short it's the ecosystem around the product that makes it so attractive, not what Apple created in the hardware. And it's certainly not what Apple have created in the software either.

I dislike the perceived requirement to buy into the whole Apple experience just to use my 8GB music player, and iTunes is the pinnacle of my dislike.  I'm not going to get on my box about how inflated and overpowering the software is, because I don't need it.  I don't buy music from Apple and I have a product that doesn't support video or Apps, i just want to put music onto my music player and have it do the job it was made for.

So I wanted to share an alternative called SharePod. Now I don't have any affiliation with SharePod or its author but if you too own an iPod for the purpose of playing music, then I recommend you download it and try it out.  It's free, lightweight, and you don't even have to install it, it works straight off as an executable.  I like the no nonsense way it instantly displays the music already on the device,  and allows me to drag and drop my DRM-free mp3s onto it.   You do still need your proprietary white cable though!

Here we go again?

It seems another Icelandic volcano called Grimsvotn has started erupting last night. The airespace in Iceland is closed (justice!) but the ash cloud is heading in a north westerly direction at a height of 12KM so it shouldn't impact European flights if it stays like that.
The Met Office shows the ash cloud from volcano Grimsvotn

Here we go again? I doubt it.

WiFi as a Service

When the words "Wifi" and "Cloud" are used in the same sentence, it's usually in reference to a ubiquitous provider based in St Albans.  But although they may have picked a cool name, there is growing merit to the idea of providing Wifi for enterprise customers as a service, just like web hosting is today.

What it means to the enterprise customer base is that the management and cost of deploying an enterprise class wireless network is largely reduced or at least spread over time, and the risk of hardware obsolescence and the squeeze on controller bandwidth  becomes less of an issue.  

So why hasn't this method of deploying WiFi been done before?  It's largely down to the manufacturers ability to support this type of deployment architecture, that was until recently based on sending WiFi traffic back to a centralised cluster of controllers where is was processed, marked, dropped, prioritised or spat out to its destination.  Up until 12 months ago, this was the norm and claims of this architecture being a bottleneck  were met with marketing sneers.  But as is always the case with technology vendors, a lousy feature is only lousy until it has been implemented, and now the bottleneck problem magically exists.  To give them credit, it wasn't really until 802.11n started becoming more widely deployed, that controller bottlenecks were a real world problem.  However, the combination of 11n and the fact that most enterprises were recognising the cost benefits of architecting distributed wifi networks, has meant that distributing real intelligence to the APs while maintaining command and control in the centre, is probably the way forward - for now.

So if your friendly IT supplier knocks on the door and starts talking about WiFi as a service, what are they trying to sell you?  First of all, only 2 hardware vendors currently offer solutions that you could truly call "Cloud WiFi".  Motorola and Aerohive.  Both have access points with enough real intelligence to filter, firewall, inspect, process, switch frames and route packets and perform RF management functions without the constant need for a controller, and both have features that allow the slicing and dicing of controller functions for different end customers.  In both cases, the controller is out of the data path, and acts only in a configuration and policy management function, and this means it can be hosted anywhere.   In most cases, the end customer has firewalled access to his or her own policies, rules and statistics and shares the cost of the hardware and software with other like minded IT managers through the WiFi Service Provider.  They may even lease the AP hardware.

Personally I can see this working in principal, but there is one sticking point for me.  Just as Cpanel and Plesk allow the user of a shared hosting platform to perform common tasks without worrying about the underlying platform, so there needs to be a equivalent for managed, hosted WiFi.  In that way, the end customer can choose and change the colour and brand of the APs they want hanging on the ceiling, and not be concerned about learning a new, complex and vendor specific configuration back-end.  Believe me, the complexity of configuration is going to get worse before it gets better, and by then, we'll have a new architecture paradigm anyway.  Anyone for fat APs?

Crowthorne and Bracknell Forest Fire in Berkshire - Wednesday Update

The disruption caused by the fire continues, with roads still closed around the whole area.  To get to Bracknell from Crowthorne last night we had to drive all the way to Jennetts Park near the A329M and then back on ourselves past the Waitrose depots.  Many road closures are manned by police, who seem happy to talk to people about the events of the day.  Several residents have spent a second night away from their houses after being evacuated, I feel for them and hope they get back to their intact homes soon, ready to start clearing the smell of smoke which has soaked everyones clothes and houses.

We went for a walk last night into Wildmoor Heath, around the back of our house, and although there have not been any major fires here, there were some small places with charred trees and fences.  The place was unusually quiet, with less road noise coming from the closed bypass and a stillness in the air that we hadn't experienced for a number of days.  With the wind dying down a little, we hope this will help the fire fighting effort which is still very much ongoing.

On a practical level it seems that schools that were closed yesterday, have re-opened today.  I respect the decision was made with good intentions, but was it really necessary? Was it smoke and wind direction or was it to keep traffic off the roads?  Let me know what you think.


The Daily Mail, in true Daily Mail fashion, has grasped the story too, focusing on how close the fire came (has come?) to Broadmoor.  Can you imagine the operation if they had to evacuate that place?

Of course, we continue to hear about the hard work and dedication of the people that are fighting this fire on the front line.  They all deserve huge recognition.  The Golden Retriever pub which was evacuated on Monday - not least because it has a thatched roof - has been turned into the Fire and Rescue HQ offices.  The pub is obviously closed to the public, but it is now patronised by fire fighters during their well earned breaks.  I couldn't think of a nicer place to re-group and refresh.

Finally, lots more photos emerging from people, some of which are very good.  I haven't been out with my camera yet, I was going to focus (no pun intended) on the aftermath, when it finally dies down.  Two good sets of photos from other talented people, not me.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myf/sets/72157626640881112/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvf-woz/sets/72157626516289857/

The advantages of Dropbox

I've had a dropbox account for a few months now, and it's probably the most used web service / piece of software on my laptop.  If you're not familiar with Dropbox then let me explain.  It's a small piece of software that you load on your PC and it creates a folder, just like any other, that will sync everything you put into it, with a secure service on the Internet.  If you have more than 1 PC and you load Dropbox onto them all, then those files will be in sync across all your computers.  Although maybe not its primary use, it's a really easy way to copy files between computers at home or home and work.  It also acts as a secure way to backup any important files, and to share files between other people who may or may not have a Dropbox account.  I use it every day to copy files between computers and to share individual files that are too big to email.

To start with, you get 2GB of storage for free, but you can earn more by referring friends.  Each one you refer gives you and them, and extra 250MB.  If you want to sign-up, use this link to get yourself (and me!) and extra 250MB right from the start.

For the geeks like me out there, there are also apps for Android and iPhone devices that makes copying files off your phone to your PC (photos and music for example) really easy.

Update: Because I run a server at home, I'm now running Dropbox as a service on that server.  It means that my files in Dropbox will sync to my server, even if I'm not logged in.  Neat.  I got help from this post.

Crowthorne Forest Fire - Tuesday Update

So far today, I've not seen any reports of the fire getting worse, but there is traffic chaos around the area because of the road closures.  Avoid it if you can or find an altrernative route in advance.

3 schools are closed.  See comments.


The BBC has picked up the story and has video from the police helicopter on their website:


Wednesdays Update

Crowthorne Forest Fire

The sun is blocked by the smoke in our garden

Regular readers may have realised from previous blog posts that we live in Crowthorne.  We're lucky to live in a very green area, but today there have been major fires in some of the forest surrounding the village.  From our house towards the south of the village, we can see a lot of billowing white and grey smoke coming from Swinley Forest (also sometimes known as The Lookout).  The air is thick with the smell of smoke and even though we are still some way away, the view of trees in the near distance is obstructed because of the smoke.  The sound of sirens has been heard throughout the day and there have been several major road closures leading to restricted access in and out of the village.  Some other local residents have managed to get some pictures of the damage and ongoing fire.  The photos below are courtesy of Ian Emery.

Update 22:40: Personal reports from people on Facebook and Twitter are saying that the fire has spread across the Crowthorne bypass and towards the car park near Broadmoor.  There are 20 engines in attendance, some from as far away as Feltham.

A video from Nathan Denne shows the extent of the fire earlier today.
Video of Crowthorne Forest Fire

Advisory from Thames Valley Police on their website:
Thames Valley Police Advisory

Update: 23:10:  Although we know that the TRL site and Golden Retriever Pub were all evacuated, there are some reports that people on nearby Wooden Hill are also being moved.

Shredding your credit card statements is a waste of time

If you woke up because you heard a noise on Tuesday night, you might not have known or cared what it was you heard. But wake up Wednesday morning and you will realise that the noise you heard was the sound of the Internet bubble of trust, bursting.


The recent news that Sony seemingly cares less about personal data, than its trustworthy reputation, should be a concern for everyone, not just its 70 million identity theft prone zombies customers.  While the confidence hit and damage to Sonys reputation is one thing, the general public are quite rightly asking the question; if a global giant such as this can be so casual about personal data, who else can't we trust?  I fear the answer is "quite a few" and that isn't going to give a helping hand to a global recovery.   As someone who is potentially impacted by this, I know that I will be even more cautious about who holds my financial information in particular, even going so far as to withhold my custom.


One hopes that Sony will publish its security inadequacies so that others may benefit from hindsight, but I'm not hopeful of that given their previous form when it comes to public communication.  Maybe the American public will lend a hand.  Although I've not yet seen any mention of a lawsuit against Sony, it surely can't be long.


Still, if there was a bright-side to this episode, I'll find it.  With all the marketing dollars that Sony is going to have to pump to rebuild confidence in its online retail service and its brand reputation, the boys and girls in the colouring-in department are surely spared of redundancy! 

Right Royal Cockup

If The Queen knew what kind of service Royal Mail were offering to their customers, do you think she would stake her name against it?  We all have stories to tell about how post has gone missing, and we've had 2 pieces go missing in just 2 months.  And that's only the ones we know about!  The first caused my car to be missing it's tax disc for a few weeks - potentially leading to a fine - and the second caused our car insurance to be cancelled outright because the insurance company didn't receive proof of our NCB.  Now we're out of pocket because of their incompetence and we can't prove a thing!  Even if we could, I guess there's no redress available, so as a consumer we're all at the mercy of a company without opportunity to use a real alternative.  I guess when you pay pence for delivery of a letter, we shouldn't expect too much by way of a guarantee.

Furthermore, it's sad but I can't see it improving any time soon.  With the dreadful influence of the unions involved, I can't see how "Royal" Mail can modernise and we can all get a more reliable service.

Broadband Marketing Wars

Neil Berkett, the boss of Virgin Media has been on his soap box again, complaining about the colouring-in department over at BT.  His beef is with the way BT advertise their broadband service as "up-to" 20Mbps when there are only a small percentage of people that actually achieve that speed.  In trying to defend his own broadband offering, Mr Berkett points out that Virgin Media's 10Mb service runs at "9 and a bit [Mbps]" on average; last year it averaged 8.7Mb; and its 20Mb and 50Mb service run at about 90% of advertised speed. Whoa! Hang on a second there Mr B.  So what you're saying is that your company's broadband product doesn't run at the advertised speed either!?  And so one presumes that you also advertise your broadband product as an "up-to" product? Hang on, no your don't.  Rearrange these words and build a common phrase Mr Berkett.  Black, Kettle, Pot.

Now I'm not one to normally be defending BT, but what I see is a multi-billion pound investment being made by BT into faster broadband, while Virgin sits on it's arse milking the existing customers in the special cabled zones.  Sure, every now and then we hear news that Virgin are expanding their cable network into new areas, well it's only taken them 11 years and they still don't pass my door.

Personally, I'm fed up of all the talk of broadband speeds and feeds, it's not the way to sell any product.  If the public are still too stupid to understand that the glossy headline figures are largely unobtainable, then heaven help us when more ISPs introduce usage based pricing (like the mobile networks), because it's the only fair way of charging people for what they use.  Then we'll all be really confused!

San Jose, California - Trip Report

A recent summons from those-who-dictate-the-product-portfolio over in California, meant a selected few of us made a long overdue trip out west to Silicon Valley.  It's not the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last, but the agenda remains roughly the same.  Training, feedback, networking and some long days trying to break the newest software releases.  Oh, and sometimes a bit of fun too.

Even though flying seems to be a way of life at the moment, it is not one of my favourite pastimes.  Nevertheless, I've learnt (am learning) to make the most of it.  Provided there is time, I've gotten into the habit of asking to meet the pilots before departure, finding out about our routing and weather etc.  It satisfies my fascination with flying and so far, every captain has been more than willing to chat.  On this occasion they even pulled down the 3rd seat for me in the cockpit of the 777 we were flying.  We left Heathrow on United 955, a 777 without the much needed cabin upgrades.  I had been closely following the progress of the United cabin upgrades, but alas only one had been completed, and we were not on it.  For those who are as obsessed as me interested, this forum thread offers the latest news.  Still a nice seat is a nice seat and the 11 hour crossing was uneventful (the best way I find) and was helped by several glasses of wine and the film, Law Abiding Citizen (7/10).

Immigration and picking up the car were relatively painless, but my hopes of using Google Navigation on my Android "superphone" to find the hotel in San Jose were dashed when my AT&T data connection failed me.  So whilst waiting in line I made the decision to add the Avis Sat Nav to my rental car package.  Of course, once rented, paid and with keys in hand, AT&T decided it would work just fine.  Instead of handing back the Sat Nav, I'm justifying this to myself by claiming the cost of the rented Sat Nav is less than the roaming data charges I would have incurred! Probably.

I find it's always a really good idea to drive 50 miles (on the wrong side of the road), after an 11 hour flight when your body thinks it's 10pm and it's actually only 2pm.  Today was no different. 

Actually, I really like driving in America, in an American car.  It's so easy when you have no gears, or corners to contend with, just a pedal to go faster, and one to go slower and the ride itself is so "squishy" that you can't help but relax.  It's also kind of liberating and frustrating at the same time. You know that you could drive, uninterrupted for thousands of miles if you wanted to, yet knowing that after just a couple of hundred, you'd be mindless with boredom and cursing the very same automatic washing machine motor that they use as engines in US cars.  Seriously, if you wanted an example of prime USA excess, it's using a 2.5 litre engine (such as the one in my Nissan Altima) and then only managing to get a 0-60 time of 8 seconds out of it.  Looks 9/10, Goes 5/10.

Looks like a 350Z right?  Sure doesn't go like one!  This picture by the way, is not taken by me.  Can you tell?

The Residence Inn, San Jose South is another old friend.  It's nothing special, but every time I come here, nothing has changed, it still has the same distinct smell (weird I know but not nasty) and the rooms are big enough to accommodate a lounge, separate bedroom/bathroom and a kitchen complete with microwave and the noisiest fridges known to man. 

If you ever stay there, here's a list of things to do when you arrive and before you even open your suitcase:

• Turn the Fridge down to minimum or it will interrupt your already delicate, jet lagged, sleep every single time it takes off.
• Do the same with the air-conditioning.  It will dry you out and wake you up relentlessly.
• Walk/Run to the supermarket across the road (I've never been done for Jaywalking, but at 3 lanes each direction and no pedestrian crossing, it's only a matter of time).  Get some basics to satisfy your jet-lag induced 3am munchies.  Oh, and some water that isn't Dasani.  The hotel may as well be sponsored by Coke.
• Buy or bring with you a plug-in night light.  The kind that turns on automatically when it senses movement is good, then plug it in near the bathroom.   Stay with me here...What with your body thinking it is somewhere else, it is almost guaranteed that you will need to use the smallest room during your night. Maybe you have a small bladder too, or another medical condition, either way, believe me when I tell you that you will not want to be turning on the bathroom light for such an event.  For starters, the light will blind you, the fan noise will deafen you and the possibility of getting back to sleep is remote.

Just some practical advice for the regular Residence Inn Traveller!

We took advantage of the good weather and our free Sunday to do some shopping and drive aimlessly up and down Highway 1...mainly because it was Highway 1, and we could.  Monterey was our ultimate destination, but I persuaded the guys to stop at In-N-Out Burger because those are good burgers, Walter.  And they were.

If you ever get the chance, even if the queue/line is out the door as it was for us, join it and experience the In-N-Out goodness!

Monterey itself was  touristy and lively, a quite enjoyable place to be wandering around in the sun.  We found ourselves in the Aquarium because we wanted to see sharks.  We were disappointed.  Although the aquarium was amusing, 4 guys looking to see sharks, were never going to be overly impressed with life-size seahorses and fluorescent jelly fish.  Still, it was a distraction and the visitors with kids seemed to be having a whale of a time...!  I phoned home from a balcony overlooking the Pacific with a bunch of noisy Sea Lions in the background.  It could have been a worse afternoon.

The event itself, the reason we were there is not something I will talk about here.  Suffice to say that change is coming to the WLAN product marketplace, and if the alpha code we were using is anything to go  by, our customers have something to look forward to, and our sales force have a great deal of learning to do!  I wonder who will helping with that.

The remainder of the week saw us gather at the hotel for the obligatory BBQ, and several meals at local fast food restaurants.  Eating in the US is, not surprisingly, quite high on the agenda of many people.  In fact it seems to me that most adverts on US television  are about Food or Medication.  The few in-between are mostly about cars or trucks where the main selling point is fuel economy!  For example,  an ad I saw whilst over there proclaims the newest Ford truck manages a whopping 30mpg, and that is supposed to impress us.

Of course, the law according to Murphy, dictated that the morning I was due to check-out and return home, was the first morning of the week where my alarm clock actually woke me.  Previous to this, every morning, I found myself in the rather unique position (for me at least) of waking early, feeling human, and having time to do something before getting ready for work.  I suppose if there could be any, it is one of the advantages of Jet Lag.  My flight wasn't until the evening, so the day was spent as usual in the office.  The drive to the airport, dropping off the car and dumping the luggage all went very smoothly.  I even managed to have a shower and something to eat before boarding.  This was a more important step than usual - I knew I absolutely had to sleep on the flight home because of the weekend I had ahead of me.  Just so you know, I never get any meaningful sleep on planes, it's just not something that I am capable of.  That is, without prescription medication!  

Unusually for me, I refused dinner on board, and at the first extinguishing of the seat belt sign, pushed the magic button to make me a bed!  And it's lucky I did try to sleep because it wasn't long before that seat belt sign came back on, and the cabin crew were asked to take their seats too.  That's always a bad sign.  The captain kept us well informed though, even if his information was what a rough ride we were expecting and that all the planes around us were also getting a raw deal.  Thankfully, I was semi-conscious at this point, so didn't really care too much, but the disco lights above our heads played on until well after dawn.

Coming into Heathrow is always a pleasure.  This occasion was no different.  Although we were well ahead of schedule - presumably because of those favorable winds that also helped to spill my water - we joined the stack and waited for a space.  It was the same story on the ground, our gate was occupied still, and so our 45 minute advantage was further eroded.  Normally, it wouldn't matter, I had a few hours to kill before my next flight to Amsterdam (this time for a stag weekend, and the reason I really needed that sleep) but it was the arrivals lounge that closed at 2pm that made me anxious to disembark.  Still, I need not have bothered making a dash for it, with a look of surprise on their faces, the arrivals lounge staff rather nervously informed me that United did not actually expect anyone arriving on my flight to make it before they closed, so I couldn't come in. Nice.  Needless to say, I sent a sweaty email to United while I waited for KLM to take me to Amsterdam.  There won't be a Trip Report for Amsterdam!

Update: That sweaty email I sent to United was met with a $250 response.  It won't have done anything for the unfortunate people I sat next to on the flight to Amsterdam, but it might help to get me to Honolulu next year...

"Super-fast" fibre broadband coming to Crowthorne

Back in 2009, British Telecom announced a number of UK locations that would be getting their new "super-fast" broadband.  The village where I live happened to be one of them, and it is due to come into service at the end of the summer.  Well, I'm pretending not to look surprised, but it appears they are on target to deliver on that promise. 

The new broadband is known technically as Fibre To The Curb/Cabinet (FTTC) and means that instead of old copper wires between you and the telephone exchange, BT provides a half measure by bringing fibre optic cables to a green box, a bit closer to your home.  You still have copper wire coming into your home, but the length is shorter and so it can support faster speeds.  It's like moving your house closer to the main telephone exchange!

In Crowthorne over the last few weeks, the old green boxes have been replaced by huge new ones.  The one above is on the corner of the Sandhurst Road and Byron Drive.  It's in a completely new position where previously there was none.  I've spotted others on the Crowthorne Road towards Sandhurst, on the corner of the High Street and Wellington Road, outside Co-op on the High Street and at the end of the High Street opposite The Prince.  

However, I'm disappointed to say that the rather sad looking green cabinet closest to me, is yet to be upgraded.  Out of all of them, I'd say it needed the upgrade the most.  See what I mean?

So when will Crowthone residents be able to order FTTC broadband?  Well, the Ready for Service date is still set as "late summer" according to Samknows.com. But unless you currently use BT, getting the new service from your existing service provider might be challenging.  Most recently Zen Internet have announced they will be starting trials, and Plusnet, AAISP, and Griffin have publicly stated their intentions to support the new service.  In my opinion, it's unfortunate that the majority of end-users will still choose to give their hard-earned to BT by default.

UPDATE 14/7/10: Having just had a chat with the contractors causing traffic jams working at the end of Pinehill Road, and having a good nose at their efforts, I can confirm there's another DSLAM going in at the junction of Pinehill Road and Sandhurst Road.  Cables have been pulled under the road from the Green PCP pictured above to a new DSLAM site on the corner.  The DSLAM is not yet installed but the concrete mounting and the cables are in place and currently visible.  The end of September is the estimated ready for service date.  Let me know if you see any more works going on around Crowthorne.

Camera not in use (yet)

If you've driven on the motorway recently you may well have spent the vast majority of your journey riding the 50mph road train.  It seems to me that I spend more time being enforced by the yellow cameras than driving along at normal motorway speeds. 

What's more, the highways agency (or whomever runs the nanny-cams) could well save a heap of money by deploying signs next to cameras that tell us the ones that are actually in use!  For over the past few months, especially in the south,  nanny-cams have started sprouting and staying put, long after the roadworks they were protecting have been mothballed.

So why aren't they being taken down?  Maybe it's cheaper to leave them be, waiting for the next set of roadworks to spring up, but the cynic in me fears something more sinister like road pricing or a national speed camera network.  Both are technically possible because the nanny-cams read number plates of passing cars.  At the moment, this is used to work out the speed of said vehicles between 2 points, but it could equally be used to prove you were on that road at a certain time.

With the upcoming election, I did a little research to see what the views of Nick, Gordon and Dave were on this subject.

Nick...

Wants a road pricing scheme and would charge road freight per mile on the motorways (keep 'em coming and staying).

Gordon...

Says that he won't introduce road pricing in the next parliament.  (The camera network won't be complete before then).

Dave...

Doesn't mention road pricing as such although says he wants foreign lorries to pay to use our roads (just introduce enforced refueling at Dover).

I'm not even going to consider The Greens, they'd remove what little joy there is left in driving.

So maybe it just my paranoia, the nanny state or a general distrust of the government but all 3 major parties (and the hopefuls too) have a published reason to leave these things in situ.  Next time you're stuck in the 50mph road train, just remember the fuel economy benefits, it's the only positive I can think of!

London Untergrund

If like me you find amusement in silly, childish names, then you might appreciate this light hearted German translation of the London tube map.  It contains such delights as Elefant Und Schloss, Liverpool Strasse and 2.4Km Ende!

http://www.steveprentice.net/tube/TfLSillyMaps/german_map.jpg

Actually, the whole site contains various adaptions of the London Tube map, some of them interesting, worth a look.