My Windows boxes can’t browse each other on the network. After reading a bunch of Microsoft KB articles, I discover nbtstat.exe:

nbtstat.exe -A ip-address

This command will download the NetBios name table from the remote IP address. It also appears to update your local cache with the NetBios name of the remote host at ip-address.

I verified this behavior with the following commands:

nbtstat.exe -R (purge the NetBios name cache)
nbtstat.exe -c (verify that NetBios name cache is empty)
nbtstat.exe -A ip-address
nbtstat.exe -c (verify that NetBios name of ip-address is in local cache)

So if you know the ip address of a remote Windows host, this appears to be a way to force a name mapping into your local NetBios cache.

The man page for nbtstat.exe.

I have a T-Mobile phone. Their web site has been slow to the point of unusability for the past week. I don’t know if the problem is on my end or on their end, but I have no problem reaching any other site on the Internet so I suspect that I’m ok.

After a week of trying to ignore their dead slow web site, I decide to be a good citizen and call T-Mobile customer support to report it. The first CSR puts me on hold and sends me to tech support. The tech support CSR puts me on hold and sends me to wireless data support. The wireless data CSR says the web site works fine for her. I say, just because it works for you doesn’t mean it works for me. She puts me on hold to talk to her supervisor. After a couple of minutes, she says they have verified that there is nothing wrong with the web site. I say, great, it’s still broken here so please take this data and forward it to the appropriate person. She tries to convince me that nothing is wrong and this is all my fault. I say, just take the data and escalate it to the right people. She says, I’ll ask my supervisor. Fine, I say, and hang up.

I know that the CSR is measured on his or her ability to get me off the phone as fast as possible. But maybe they should measure how they just pissed me off for trying to help them.

Cringley speculates that Apple will be coming out with an HD video iPod with a retinal scan display.

Link: http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050714.html

Update (Oct 2005): Apple released the Video iPod but it does not use the Microvision display. Hope you didn’t buy the stock.

I’ve been using VOIP phones for over a year. I even dropped my local phone service about 6 months ago in favor of a VOIP line. I have had the most experience with Vonage. I’ve been a customer for over a year and have always been satisfied with call quality and have never experienced any problems. I also have no trouble sending faxes over my Vonage line and the price is pretty good: $25 / month for unlimited calling in US and Canada.

Based on the experience with Vonage, I signed up with Lingo as soon as they announced their service. Lingo is an even better deal: $20 / month for unlimited calling in US, Canada, and Western Europe (landlines only, mobiles are more). I also had my local number switched over to Lingo (a process that only took about 5 months). Compared with Vonage, Lingo leaves a lot to be desired. Lately, about half the calls get dropped. Messages show up in voice mail without the phone ever ringing. And I can’t send a fax with Lingo. I opened a support ticket about the fax issue and was told that Lingo does not support the T.38 fax-over-voip standard but I was welcome to try sending a fax anyway; it might work if I configured the fax machine to use a lower baud rate like 9600 or 14400. My HP multifunction device does not have a way to slow down the fax send rate so I would be SOL if I did not have the Vonage account. I’ll definitely be dumping Lingo soon if their service does not improve.