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STREAMING AUDIO The podcast is usually ready before 9 a.m. Eastern US time on the show date (shown below).

Show Date: 2007.04.01

This is NOT an April Fools Day joke

But it is a bad habit. For the second time in a month, TechByter Worldwide has no program ready to go. Although I could probably toss something together, you deserve better than that. I can confirm that I am not being held at Guantanamo Bay, that I have not been abducted by space aliens (at least not this week), and that I have not been kidnapped for ransom (the last time that happened, the kidnappers had to pay my family to take me back.) My schedule for the past 4 weeks or so has been "interesting" in the supposed Chinese curse meaning of the word, but things will begin to return to normal this coming week and TechByter Worldwide should be back next week.

On the other hand, this IS an April Fools Day joke

If you see a message such as the one that follows, it is a hoax.

Internet Cleaning

DO NOT CONNECT TO THE INTERNET FROM MARCH 31st 23:59 pm (GMT) UNTIL 12:01am (GMT) APRIL 1st.

*** Attention ***

It's that time again!

As many of you know, each year the Internet must be shut down for 24 hours in order to allow us to clean it. The cleaning process, which eliminates dead email and inactive ftp, www and gopher sites, allows for a better-working and faster Internet.

This year, the cleaning process will take place from 23:59 pm (GMT) on March 31st until 00:01 am (GMT) on April 2nd. During that 24-hour period, five powerful Internet-crawling robots situated around the world will search the Internet and delete any data that they find.

In order to protect your valuable data from deletion we ask that you do the following:

Disconnect all terminals and local area networks from their Internet connections.
Shut down all Internet servers, or disconnect them from the Internet.
Disconnect all disks and hardrives from any connections to the Internet.
Refrain from connecting any computer to the Internet in any way.

We understand the inconvenience that this may cause some Internet users, and we apologize. However, we are certain that any inconveniences will be more than made up for by the increased speed and efficiency of the Internet, once it has been cleared of electronic flotsam and jetsam.

We thank you for your cooperation.

Interconnected Network Maintenance Staff
Main Branch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Creating the information for each week's TechByter requires many hours of unpaid work. Please consider dropping a little money into the kitty to help.

Bill Blinn
Bill can turn any computer to sludge, whether Windows or Mac.

Annoying legal disclaimer

My attorney says I really need to say this: The TechByter website is for informational purposes only. I assume no responsibility for its accuracy, although I do my best. The information is subject to change without notice. Any actions you take based on information from the radio program, the podcast, or from this website are entirely at your own risk. Products and services are mentioned for informational purposes only and their various trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. TechByter cannot provide technical support for products or services mentioned.

This is the only ad you'll ever see on this site. It's for my website host, BlueHost in Orem, Utah. Over the past several years, they have proven to be honest, reliable, and progressive. If you need to host a website, please click the banner below to see what BlueHost has to offer.

TechByter Worldwide receives a small advertising payment for each new client that signs up with BlueHost but I would make the same recommendation even if the affiliate program didn't exist. (If you don't see a banner ad above and you would like to know more, this link takes you to BlueHost.)