As a result of this, Gabe decided he was out to get the DCC, our computing department, which is portrayed as the Evil Department of Computing Syndicate in the following short I helped film:

As you can see, I have a couple minor roles (playing cards and the exciting finale scene). Good times. Around that time we also constructed a 802.11b antenna from a dish Gabe bought from FAB-Corp, a bunch of packing tape, and my musical horse, Alpo:

He then dropped out and started his own business, called OvernightPC (I still have one of the CDs they passed out at a LAN party). They would come to your dorm room or home or business and fix your machines. The business did alright for a while, but eventually failed. Gabe moved to Portland, OR.

I went to OSCON in the summer of 2006, and stayed with Gabe. He had started running a web proxy service under various different names, like VTunnel. Wanting to expand his business (he was already pulling 6 figures in advertising revenue at that time), he flew a kid from England to Oregon to work on a new idea: Pay VPN service for anonymity. I’m not sure how this ended up working out.

I left after the conference, and the next thing I heard about him was that he moved to Florida and was loving it. Now, he’s at the center of the entire Sarah Palin Email Account Scandal. His service was apparently used to do the email password hacking deed. I’ll have to give him a call and see what he thinks about all this.

Update

I talked to Gabe on the phone today, and he told me he had done a video interview with Fox. It sounds like he’s doing well.

Video mirrored here:

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if no one ever upgraded to Web 2.0? I mean, really, what have we gained. Here’s a list of things that I personally find really stupid about the phenomenon:

Lists

I think there’s a list for everything now. Everyone wants to be David Letterman. Here’s a lists of lists of things, found on Digg by searching for “10 things”:

• Top 10 Things Americans Want but Can’t Have
• Procrastination: Ten Things To Know
• Things Everyone in IT Should Know
• Things No One Gives Microsoft Credit For (But Should)
• 16 Names Of Things You Never Knew Had Names
• Things Republicans want you to forget

Now, lists are all fine and dandy, but nowadays, most lists people put up are simply a ploy to get traffic, show more ads, and make money. Now, I have no problem with this at all – profits are the best incentive. But, really, it’s getting a little insane. Instead of lists, which are easy to skim, why not hide all your points in some real writing? Many of my friends and I, who are internet addicts, have realized that our reading speed and comprehension have suffered over the years due to the way we surf, which is skimming everything for that small chunk of information you want.

Social Bookmarking Icon Diarrhea

This picture says it all:

Really Big RSS Feed Images

Giant Footers

Here’s one:

Nobody looks at the bottom of your site. Sorry.

Lame Layouts

How to waste 2/3 of the screen

How to waste 3/4 of the screen

The first one of these I bought came DOA, but I just let NewEgg know about it, and they shipped me a new working one for free. Brilliant! I highly recommend you pick one up if you’re in the market.

Media Tested

One of the reasons I bought a new burner was the 200 discs I currently have that my old burner is incompatible with. I know now that at least 100 of those will work, since I sampled from a previosly non-working stack for the results above.

• Maxell 16x DVD-R
• Sony 16x DVD-R

Shutdown day is approaching. It’s May 3rd, 2008!

What I will do

• Turn off my desktop
• Turn off my laptop
• Turn off my routers
• Turn off most of the lights
• Read a book
• Go for a bike ride

What I won’t do

• Turn off the AC
• Turn off the fridge

Why

I’m not doing this to decrease my “carbon footprint,” decrease dependence on foreign oil, or for any other political gain. I’m doing this because it is a healthy thing for any human to do once in a while. Taking a break from the highest levels of technology is good for the brain and the soul. Readers, please join me!

----- BEGIN GEEK CODE -----
GCS d- s:+ a-- C++++$ UL++++$ P+++$ L+++$ E---
W+++ N++ o-- K? w-- !O M- V-- PS PE Y+ PGP++
t++@ 5? X R tv b+ Dl D+ G e++ h--- r++ y++
------ END GEEK CODE ------

To find out what that means, go to the link above.