text: Crusader Kings II: Rajas of India releases this Tuesday , expanding the map of Paradox's medieval strategy sandbox to central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Not one to venture into strange, new lands unprepared, I met with CK2 lead designer Henrik Fåhraeus to learn everything there was to know about what lies in wait with this expansion. We talked about historical accuracy, India's religions and castes, and more. If you promise not to plot my untimely death, you can share in my findings below.
  PC Gamer: I guess the highlight of the new expansion is the map expansion and the new religions. What can you tell us about them, in general?
  Henrik Fahraeus: So, there are three new religions in India. They are in a new religion group, which is basically the Indian group: the Dharma. The Dharma Initiative. [laughs]
  HF: So we tried to make them as different and interesting as possible to play. Pretty obviously we're going to add a lot of events and decisions and stuff like that to make it feel like you're playing in India. So you don't have a tournament. You might have a tiger hunt, or something like that.
  One thing I wanted to do myself is playing off the concept of karma and reincarnation. A baby is born. It has a scar, and it looks exactly the same as my grandfather's scar. So everyone thinks, hey, this is the reincarnation of Ashoka the Great . And as the kid grows up, it might acquire traits similar to the ones my grandfather had. And everyone will think it's the reincarnation. Of course, it's up to the player to decide whether that's true or not.
  PCG: That's an interesting point that has been discussed in light of some of the events—particularly one that you wrote for Sons of Abraham. There is sort of this tongue-and-cheek supernatural element to some of the newer content in Crusader Kings II. Is that a direction you guys are comfortable with pushing further? Have you ever been afraid that it might hurt the game's reputation for historical accuracy?
  HF: I think that even most people in the historical accuracy corner are willing to forgive a sprinkling of this type of content in Crusader Kings II. I tend to justify it to myself by thinking of how religious and superstitious people were in medieval times. Magical thinking was the norm, not the exception. That said, in most cases we try to keep the door open for natural explanations. (As an aside, in the case of reincarnation, I try to keep an open mind. There is actually a surprising amount of scientific evidence for it. See Ian Stevenson, particularly his work on birthmarks.
  HF: Right. Since the Indian religions are so tolerant and pluralistic, which makes them very different from the European religions, they won't have any heresies. And they're very tolerant of each other. There is some friction, but these penalties will be much lower. If I'm a Buddhist ruler, and all of my vassals are Hindu, they will be fairly okay with that.
  HF: It depends. It is fairly easy to take a step down; by marrying someone of a lower caste your children will be of that caste. It is much harder to become Kshatriya (which is the optimal caste for feudal lords); there is a decision you can take at any time, but it costs a lot of money and piety, especially if your Learning skill is low (it's easier to argue with the Brahmins if you know your Vedas).
  HF: You are free to marry anyone, but children inherit the lower of their parents' castes. Of course, marrying "down" causes a loss of prestige, and vice versa.
  PCG: Since the Indian religions don't have heresies, how will they interact with things like Moral Authority?
  HF: Like Pagans, Moral Authority is not hugely important for the Indian religions, but low authority can trigger a number of negative province events—temple corruption, death cults, and so on.
  PCG: Historically, there were divisions among these more Asian religions. You had the Theravada and Vajrayana… will those be modeled at all through traits and events, in lieu of heresies? You know, something like the Ashari and Mu'tazili schools for Muslims?
  HF: Yes, absolutely. These sects or branches are represented as inherited traits—Shaivist, Vaishnavist, Shaktist—each with its own modifiers. Like religions, these can change when children are educated. In addition, there are many character modifiers for your "patron god," which you are allowed to change, of course.
  PCG: Do they all feel roughly the same within the Indian religion group, kind of like the different flavors of pagan, or will they have more varied mechanics?
  HF: So the way that we're representing these religions is that the Hindu are the more warlike ones. We know from historical sources that they raided their neighbors a lot. They will have kind of aggressive cassus belli , parallel to the Holy War CB but a little bit different. They will also have the caste system.
  The Buddhists are the learned scholars, the gurus, of the three religions, so they will have a technological bonus. In reality, they were probably mostly concerned with theological and philosophical issues. But it seems natural, since they created these massive university complexes on the Bengal.
  The Jainists are the peaceniks. They are more pacifistic than the other two, but also extremely internally stable. Vassals as well as the provinces will not cause much problem due to differences of religion, basically.
  PCG: It sounds like the Jain religion is very powerful. I mean, Crusader Kings is a game about keeping your realm stable. That's almost a bigger challenge than dealing with your neighbors. And if they get huge bonuses to that, how do you balance it out?
  HF: Well, their CBs will suck. They will basically not be able to attack anyone. So that's the downside.
  PCG: Decadence for Muslims is going to be changed in the free patch along with Rajas. Can you tell us what you plan on doing with it?
  HF: The way it works now is, characters acquire the Decadent trait. They sort of become decadent. And it's much more likely that they get this trait if they are unlanded. And it's much more likely if they are already Hedonists or Gluttonous or something like that. And then, you can no longer just imprison your family members for free. I just removed that whole thing. Instead, you can try to convince them… negotiate with them about their behavior. That starts a little chain, and eventually, if they refuse, then you can imprison them.
  So there will be fewer decadent characters, and more ways of dealing with them. It feels a bit unnatural that you would just exterminate your entire dynasty all the time.
  PCG: With the addition of war elephants for India and camel warriors in North Africa, do you plan to use the new special troop system to give other existing cultures new things to play with in the future?
  HF: Absolutely. That is the idea. This is just the start of the development of that system. One thing we didn't have time to add was special troop type attrition in different terrains. I still want to do that. For example, historically, the Mongols were stopped by the Mamelukes, because Mongol riders didn't fight well in the sort of gravelly, desert-type terrain. So camel riders kind of outdid them.
  In the wake of the suspension of 26 professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players who were involved in match fixing, Valve has issued another statement that not only warns against such behavior, but explains why any kind of betting on matches is bad for everyone.
  The statement opens with the same warning that accompanied the lengthy bans of pro CS:GO players in January and February: That players, teams, and anyone involved with professional events should never bet on matches or associate with those who do. But then it moves beyond that to explain that it's not just impropriety that's the problem, but also the mere appearance of impropriety.
  "As a professional player, team manager or event production staff, it is common to have personal relationships and/or privileged information about other teams and players. Because of this, we will always assume that you have access to private CS:GO-related 'inside information' that might give you an unfair advantage when placing a bet on any CS:GO game or match," Valve wrote.
  "Betting using inside information, or even the perception or suspicion thereof, carries a significant risk of damaging your personal brand, your team, your community, and may lead to exclusion from future Valve-sponsored events," it continued. "To avoid these risks, we recommend that you never bet on any CS:GO game or match. This recommendation applies both to current professional players and anyone who wishes to participate in a Valve-sponsored CS:GO event in the future."
  Valve said it's important for players to consider the impact they can have on the "health and stability" of the CS:GO sport. E-sports are tremendously popular but it's still a relatively nascent business, and if the perception of widespread corruption takes hold, it could seriously impinge upon its future growth. "Performing before an audience of millions of fans, you are ambassadors for your game," it wrote. "The strength of professional Counter-Strike comes from the integrity of its players and teams."
  The West Block on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill is one of Canada’s historic landmarks. Unfortunately, it’s a piece of history that is literally crumbling apart. The Government of Canada’s Public Works department has said the national historic site is in "an advanced state of deterioration," and the Auditor General says the building has been assessed as being in “critical condition.”
  The historically classified four-story building was designed by Thomas Stent and Augustus Laver in 1859, and it officially opened in 1865. Its tenants include the Canada’s top decision makers—ministers, members of parliament and their staff, plus one of the largest rooms on Parliament Hill: the ceremonial Confederation Room.
  There is an urgent need to proceed with the restoration work. The building’s stonework is cracked and crumbling, asbestos has to be removed, and the electrical and temperature systems in the buildings are in danger of a total failure.
  PCL is undertaking a complete renovation of the facilities. The project is not simply a makeover to restore the buildings to a museum-like state. It is a complete restoration to ensure the 150-year old site can return to a functional home where the nation’s business gets done.
  The job includes preserving and protecting the load-bearing masonry exterior, dealing with the environmental issues related to removing asbestos throughout the building, and upgrading the buildings to create safe, secure, and functional home for members of the House of Commons.
  This project is being funded by the taxpayers of Canada so, in effect, the client is every citizen of the country. As an employee-owned company, PCL knows the importance of getting value for the dollar. As taxpayers, PCL employees bring this same attitude to the job to ensure that the government, and all Canadians, receive full value for their investment.
  The PCL team is proud to play a role in the restoration of a national historic site that will continue to play an important role in the governing of the nation.
  Microsoft late on Monday provided testers with the much-anticipated second release candidate of Windows XP Service Pack 2. The timing of the final release is still up in the air.
  Microsoft on Monday afternoon released the much-anticipated second release candidate of Windows XP Service Pack 2. But the Redmond, Wash., software firm was mum about the timing of its final release.
  At the same time, a Microsoft Corp. spokesman told eWEEK that he was unable to give a specific date for the final release of SP2 as this "will depend on the customer feedback received during the continued testing."
  Until Monday, Microsoft officials had held fast to the company's claim from the spring that the final XP SP2 release would ship in late July. They have also said they are not sure whether they will issue an RC3 beta, which could push the final release date beyond July.
  The spokesman reiterated that line Monday, saying it was "again, too soon to say" if there would be a need for...
  Getting your name out there and creating some buzz is key in the startup world. When that buzz labels you as a copycat, though, you would think it detrimental to your success. Not so fast. It can, in fact, be wildly profitable. Take the German-based Rocket Internet incubator. Brothers Marc, Oliver, and Alexander Samwer have made hundreds of millions of dollars in their blatant pilfering of the designs and business models of sites like Pinterest, Groupon, and YouTube.
  It's not that the Samwers don't have the schooling to come up with their own concepts: Marc has a law degree from the University of Cologne; Oliver has a business degree from top German business school WHU  Otto Beisheim School of Management (with an exchange year at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern); and Alexander has a Master's from the University of Oxford and an MBA from Harvard Business School. They've just found no need to be all that unique since they've proven that they can take a successful site, copy it in less than six months, and turn around and sell it for the prices that originals often command.
  The brothers are publicity-shy but their methods might be ensconced in Oliver's thesis, America's Most Successful Startups: Lessons for Entrepreneurs. That's not to say you can count on it for giving away trade secrets, though. Oliver can be just as deliberately evasive as the sites are straightforward in their plagiarism. Asked about trends at IdeaLab, he smiles slyly and says, "I would never rely on what's the next big trend."
  Oliver might be the most loquacious of the brothers, but it's not always to their benefit. TechCrunch Europe revealed a private email he sent to employees in which he set out battle plans for becoming the top site for online furniture sales: "There are only 3 areas in ecommerce to build billion dollar business: amazon, zappos and furniture. the only thing is that the time for the blitzkrieg must be chosen wisely, so each country tells me with blood when it is time. i am ready  anytime!" it says. He ends the note with, "I am the most aggressive guy on internet on the planet. I will die to win and i expect the same from you!"
  Not all employees seem to be willing to do so but they are interested in breathing life into clones of Rocket Internet. Three former managers have founded Project A Ventures, which German startup mag Gründerszene reports is 80 percent staffed by fellow former Rocket Internet employees. Project A Ventures first unveiled its plans on a site called The Oryx Project that declares it will pursue its love of "projects that have already been proven in other markets." One of its first projects is a service that delivers a recipe and all the ingredients needed to make it called Yummy, which is exactly what Rocket Internet's latest venture HelloFresh, a copy of Sweden's Linas Matkasse, does.
  If you didn't just get lost in a vortex, take a look at the Samwer's versions up against their doppelgangers.
  FrontPage's Navigation view is extremely useful when you're designing a new site, but how do you build a navigation structure out of an existing Web if FrontPage did not build it automatically?
  As you suggest, the best thing you can possibly do when designing a site using FrontPage is to add pages and subpages directly from within the Navigation view. That way, the Navigation view is always up to date, and when you select Insert | Navigation and tell FrontPage to build a navigation bar, the pages will be accurate. If you build your Web without the Navigation view, however, you'll have to create this view manually. To do so, select View | Folder List. Next, open the Navigation view and drag the home page (index.htm or default.htm) into the Navigation view pane. Then drag each page to its correct location in the Navigation view until FrontPage draws a line between the page you're dragging and its parent page. Keep doing this until you complete the navigation structure, at which point you can add your navigation bars.
  Tim Gideon Origaudio Sonosphear The Origaudio Sonosphear delivers a decent audio experience in a novel design, but there are plenty of more compelling Bluetooth speakers for the same price.
  Mids-focused audio performance delivers a clear experience at moderate volumes. Design is ideal for desktop use.
  Can lop off the opening second of newly navigated-to tracks. Enclosure vibrates on deep bass. Weak battery life. Poor speakerphone quality.
  The Origaudio Sonosphear delivers a decent audio experience in a novel design, but there are plenty of more compelling Bluetooth speakers for the same price.
  It's safe to say that most portable Bluetooth speakers we review don't look like the $119.99 Origaudio Sonosphear. With a circular build that features a speaker grille printed with a design resembling folded origami paper, the look is definitely a conversation starter. From an audio standpoint, the Sonosphear delivers a solid, mids-focused sound signature, but sometimes its enclosure can vibrate on tracks with seriously deep bass. Overall, the speaker gets nothing terribly wrong, but it also does little to stand out in a crowded field of better-sounding alternatives.
  The Sonosphear's front face is circular and flat. The metallic speaker grille has an almost three-dimensional feel to it thanks to the printed gray design. Measuring roughly 8.7 by 7.9 by 5.4 inches (HWD) and weighing in at 1.4 pounds, the speaker is portable, but it's not rugged or waterproof, so it's really more of a room-to-room option.
  The side panels and stand have a shiny silver finish, in stark contrast to the many matte designs we see on a regular basis. From the side, the speaker resembles one very large driver that is placed on a stand. In reality, there are dual 2.2-inch, 8-watt drivers behind the grille. On the back of the speaker, there's an LED light that shines blue and can be dimmed slightly or turned off using the power button.
  Across the top panel, there are buttons for power, mode (this switches between Bluetooth and the aux input), play/pause, and plus/minus for volume when held and track navigation when tapped (the levels work in conjunction with your mobile device's master volume). We are never fans of combining the latter two controls, because it increases the likelihood of accidentally skipping a track when you really meant to adjust the volume.
  The playback button doubles as a phone call management button, and there's a pinhole mic right next to it on the top panel. The mic offers mediocre intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could understand every word we recorded, but they were distorted and muffled.
  The stand has a rubberized bottom that keeps the speaker from dancing around tabletops due to vibrations, and it also angles the drivers up toward your ear—a design element that is often overlooked with small speakers. Where the stand connects to the speaker itself, there is a 3.5 aux input (a cable is included), as well as a micro USB port for charging the speaker. The speaker's eight-hour battery life isn't exactly excellent, as plenty of the competition offers two or three times this amount. Also worth noting: We had to test two different Sonosphears, as the first one shipped to us wouldn't recharge. We'll count this as anomaly since the second one worked just fine, but we mention it in the interest of being thorough.
  On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the Sonosphear delivers decent bass depth for its size and price—you don't get a sense of powerful sub-bass, but there's definitely some thump. You can actually feel its vibrations transfer through surfaces on deep bass tracks. At top volumes, tracks like this test the speaker—while we didn't detect outright distortion, the speaker's enclosure can vibrate audibly when really deep lows are played at high volumes.
  Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less sub-bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Sonosphear's overall sound signature. The drums on this track can sound overly thunderous on bass-forward speakers, but the Sonosphear's delivery sounds flatter, and almost thin at times. It's Callahan's baritone vocals that command more of the bass presence, which tells us there's far more low and low-mid frequency presence and boosting here than there is any real semblance of subwoofer-like depth. The guitars and higher register percussion are delivered with clarity and a decent amount of brightness, but this is a mids-focused affair that, on this track, seems to favor the low-mids most prominently. That said, the sound signature never feels muddy—the high-mids and highs do their part and keep things reasonably balanced.
  On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop gets an ideal high-mid attack, allowing it to punch through the layers of the beat as a prominent force in the mix. The sub-bass synth hits are more implied than delivered—we hear their raspy top notes more so than any real depth. The vocals are once again the focus of the mix—all three performances are delivered with solid clarity in the mids while avoiding anything overly sibilant.
  Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound thin through the Sonosphear. The higher register brass, strings, and vocals retain their prominent place in the mix, sounding crisp and clear, but the lower register instrumentation seems to disappear and have almost no real presence in the mix.
  Skipping tracks on the Sonosphear often results in the first second or so of each track being lopped off. We sometimes see this happen in lower-cost speakers, but it's a bit surprising at this price.
  For $120, there are more compelling Bluetooth speakers on the market than the Origaudio Sonosphear. Not only are there more rugged, better-sounding alternatives, but most of them have better battery life as well. Some of our recent favorites in this price range include the Sony SRS-XB3, the EcoXGear EcoSlate, the JBL Flip 4, and the JLab Block Party—all offer a stronger audio experience and more useful features. The Sonosphear has a head-turning design, but does little else to make you stand up and take notice.
  Bottom Line: The Origaudio Sonosphear delivers a decent audio experience in a novel design, but there are plenty of more compelling Bluetooth speakers for the same price.
  John R. Delaney Bay Alarm Medical Splitsecnd In-Car Medical Alert The Bay Alarm Medical Splitsecnd In-Car Medical Alert plugs into your car to give you one-touch access to a live emergency response agent. It also has crash detection and GPS so emergency responders can locate you even if you're unable to tell them where you are.
  Easy to install and use. Web and mobile tracking app. Uses GPS, cellular, and crash detection technologies. Fast response times.
  The Bay Alarm Medical Splitsecnd In-Car Medical Alert plugs into your car to give you one-touch access to a live emergency response agent. It also has crash detection and GPS so emergency responders can locate you even if you're unable to tell them where you are.
  Bay Alarm Medical, maker of the In-Home Medical Alert and the Mobile GPS Help Button, now offers an emergency medical alert solution designed specifically for drivers. The Splitsecnd In-Car Medical Alert ($39.95/month) is a neat little device that you plug into your car's 12V receptacle where it serves as an on-the road emergency help button, a crash detector, and a GPS locator. It works with a well-designed companion app that not only allows family members and caregivers to track your current location and driving route, but also holds your personal medical information, which is vital to first responders. Best of all, the Splitsecnd will automatically place a call to the emergency response center if you're involved in a crash and unable to press the help button yourself. For these reasons, it earns our Editors' Choice award.
  The Splitsecnd device looks like an ordinary 12V USB charger, but it is packed with cool tech. It's black and measures 4.5 inches long, 1.7 inches high, and 0.9 inches wide. The front of the unit, facing the driver, has a small white backlit help button, and below that is a USB port for charging your phone. There's a microphone on the right side, a speaker on top, and a 12V plug on the opposite end for your car's 12V outlet.
  Inside the Splitsecnd are cellular and GPS radios and an impact sensor that detects sudden changes in speed, direction, and other conditions that would indicate a crash. There's also a battery backup that will provide up to 15 minutes of talk time and up to 12 hours of idle time if your car loses battery power. When you press the help button, or if the Splitsecnd detects a crash, the device uses the cellular radio to automatically call the same emergency response center used by the Bay Alarm In-Home and Mobile Help GPS devices. If you are unable to answer, the emergency response agent will alert your personal emergency contact and dispatch first responders to your location based on the Splitsecnd's GPS data.
  The Splitsecnd has a user-friendly mobile app (for Android and iOS) and a web dashboard that lets family and caregivers see where you are in real-time and where you've been. The mobile app opens to a Locator page that shows the Splitsecnd's current location on a map with a red icon. Tap the icon to launch a popup window that shows start and end points for all trips taken, with times and dates. Tap any trip to view the driving route on a map. The web dashboard also offers maps and driving routes and has a section where you can enter vehicle information such as VIN, make, model, license plate number, color, and year of your car. Driver information includes name, email address, phone number, gender, date of birth, and medical information such as medications, allergies, blood type, medical history, and your MedicAlert ID if you have one.
  Preparing the Splitsecnd for use couldn't be easier. From any computer, type setup.splitsecnd.com in your browser address bar to create an account. Once you log in, you'll be asked to enter the nine-character device ID (located on the device), and you're good to go. At this point you can input emergency contact and medical information, add additional drivers, and enter vehicle information. You can also download the mobile app and use your username and password to sign in from anywhere.
  The Splitsecnd delivered speedy response times (the time it takes to be connected to a live agent once the help button is pressed) in our tests. The first time I used it I was connected to an agent in 25 seconds, and subsequent calls averaged 27 seconds, which is relatively quick compared with the 59-second average we saw with the Bay Alarm Mobile GPS Help Button, as well as the Alert1 Kelsi On-the-Go and the MobileHelp Solo, both of which averaged 35 seconds. The GreatCall Lively Mobile is our leader with an average response time of 13 seconds.
  The Splitsecnd's audio performance is its only real downside. On every call I made, the live agent had trouble hearing my voice. I attribute this to the location of the microphone: It's on the right side of the device, closer to the passenger seat than the driver's seat. A dual microphone array or relocation of the single microphone to the left side of the device would be helpful here. However, every live agent I spoke with was very professional and courteous and always provided my exact location within seconds.
  With the Bay Alarm Medical Splitsecnd In-Car Medical Alert, you get the same speedy emergency response service and peace of mind that you get with the company's In-Home and Mobile Help GPS medical alert systems while you're out on the road. Once you plug it into your car's 12V outlet, you're just a button push away from a live emergency response agent who will dispatch a first responder if you require medical help. Similarly, the device will automatically dial the response center if you're involved in a crash and will dispatch help to your exact location using data provided by the Splitsecnd's GPS radio. At $30 per month it's a bit pricey, especially if you're already paying for an in-home medical alert system, but if you spend a good deal of time in your car, this is an excellent medical alert solution and worthy of our Editors' Choice.
  As you can see I am one of the first proud owner of the AM MAX II. I saw that you recommended the Isotron Antenna for this Transmitter. Does this antenna require any tuning or is it just connect and forget? I can invest in this Antenna providing it works.
  How far apart can it be connected by Coaxial cable? In my case I want to mount this Antenna at 60' above ground.
  Is there any provision or modification for Tuning an Antenna in the TX. circuitry? What is the purpose of INTEGRATION INTERVAL?
  The Isotrons for medium wave come pretuned to your proposed operating frequency from the factory. However, there is fine-tuning adjustment on the antenna to allow set resonance +/- 30KHz.
  If you're intending to mount the antenna that 60ft above ground I don't need to tell you to use at the very least a good grade of RG213 / URM67 coaxial cable.
  ...Part 15 FCC requirements dictate the final stage of the transmitter be located as close as possible to the loop terminals.(HOW IMPRATICAL FOR THE AVERAGE LAZY JOE DOE) This constraint posses no major difficulty since the stage can be constructed on a small circuit board and mounted within the same weather-proof enclosure as the matching transformer and resonating capacitor bank. This also isolates the more expensive exciter components from the possibility of damage from a nearby lightening hit. The power can be supplied with low-cost small gauge wire since the current is under 50ma. Additionally, the power can be supplied via the coax signal line by inserting isolation transformers at both ends.
  I see the price has been lowered on the AM broadcast Isotron Antenna. I ordered mined today. This should be interesting seeing what Antenna under 10' long should do for range.
  Naturally this site is translated from French so the lingo will be a little off. Whorls are turns etc. Has a table from 10 mhz and up but the data can also be used for approximately taylored for lowered frequencies by scale. An interesting note, they use (2) metal disks and the ground disk is used on top. For 10 mHz they use between 130-200 mm diameter and recommend 300 mm disk for 40 meter band.
  The above address has to be manually cut and pasted into your browser for proper French/English translation...
  That's funny, that guy is holding his dog in that picture. L'homme et le chien. Yeah, I'm currently learning French.
  Question, has anyone bought one of these and if so, DOES it work well? If you have one of these, please give specifics. If you tried other antennas first please make comparisons if you can.
  Got my Isotron yesterday and assembled it last night. Would't you know, it rained today. Well, I braved the elements and stated tuning the unit for 1640 kHz, very touchy. Mounted the unit on a section of 10ft. mast lying against the deck at about a 45 degree angle for tune up. Must have spent a couple of hours farting around with the tuning rod. For some reason I disconnected the audio to the xmtr when I finally arrived at a SWR 1.5:1 which I thought was good enough. I reconnected the audio and my SWR went up to way over 3:1...Well into the red. I already have a good ground on the transmitter end so I don't know what's the matter.
  Well, I turned up the unit and checked back later and I got an SWR 1.7:1 WITH my audio connected. An hour later the SWR is over 2:1. The SWR does seem to jump around. I'd like to get Isotron mounted vertically on a 30' telescoping mast but I'm afraid I'll lose my tuning. Does anyone have any ideas?
  An antenna analyser would be handy if you know someone who has one. I have the cheap MFJ and I know that Autek http://www.autekresearch.com/ makes one for under a $100.
  Re the SWR, the one thing I have noticed in the past is that the enviroment can come into play and throw your antenna out of resonance. You might try hoisting it on up and see if that gives you different or better readings.
  Thanks for the tip Antler, that RF analyzer sounds like a good item to get. I read that Isotrons usually display about 30 Ohm impedance compared to a 50 ohm transmitter impedance. So I'm finally getting a steady 1.8:1 SWR with the audio turned on, not bad. The antenna shows quite a load, I'm showing about 14 watts +/- 5% meter reading which is a really good for 19 volt supply.
  Well, I'll get the unit hoisted up when the weather clears. Right now, I'm getting out about 2 miles with in the tune up position and I'm sure it will vastly improve once I'm fully operational.
  I talked to a guy named Ralph today who makes the Isotron. He said to tune my transmitter up and down to find the lowest SWR. I currently have the antenna mounted horizontally on a 10' mast and the lowest point is about 5' above ground, the SWR is 1.4:1. On either side of 1640 kHz the SWR quickly goes up, so I'm confident the I've found resonance. I currently putting out a go clean signal all things considered.
  Tomorrow is going to be cold, but I'm taking a trip up to Lowes and get their 30' telescoping mast fo $45. Going to see what hardware I'm going to need to do the job right. Keep you posted.
  can I ask what kind of range you are getting with this setup. and iwhat kind of range are you getting with a portable radio versus a car stereo?
  I have been looking at the Isotron 400, they are $600 dollars i the states and Canada, i see xxxxx are charging £695!!
  Security researcher Billy Rios has discovered a vulnerability in Google Spreadsheets which attackers can exploit using links to crafted tables to steal a user’s cookie. According to Rios, the victim has to follow such a link in Internet Explorer. The stolen cookie can be used to access all Google services with the victim’s identity, including reading the victim’s Google Mail.
  Rios explains on his blog that the security vulnerability results from incorrect content-type headers or the browser ignoring these headers in HTTP responses returned by the server. The problem is not confined to Internet Explorer: according to Rios, Firefox, Safari and Opera can also ignore the content-type header and attempt to determine the server response content type themselves.
  Rios has succeeded in exploiting the vulnerability by injecting HTML content into the server response. To do so he generated a table, the first cell of which contained HTML code and a snippet of JavaScript for displaying the user’s cookie. Google spreadsheets can export data in the text-based csv format, which Internet Explorer interprets as HTML.
  “With this single XSS, I can read your Gmail, backdoor your source code (code.google.com), steal all your Google Docs, and basically do whatever I want on Google as if I were you!” notes Rios. Google has now fixed the vulnerability and the browser now renders such crafted table content as text rather than HTML.