Speaking of non Verizon things, what's the best free audio editor for the Mac. I don't need more than clipping and matching up WAVs and MP3.

I think Audacity is very good.

This may be my first ever post in Tech, weird. Hope my question hasn't been answered a dozen times already, 'cause I only read recent stuff.

Anyway, I'm giving serious consideration to the idea of kicking Time Warner to the curb and switching to AT&T U-verse. But I've got stuff on my DVR I'd like to hang on to. What are my options, and does anyone have any recommendations for or against particular methods?

Thanks.

I am very skeptical of this:

Would You Trust the Government to Control Your Online Identity?

Facebook has enough trouble winning trust, but imagine if they were the government. Well, the US government has plans to develop what is essentially their version of Facebook Connect to provide citizens with a single online identity. Would you use it?

ReadWriteWeb reports that the United States government plans to create an identity ecosystem that will allow a user to have a single verified identity and use it to sign in to any site supporting the program. It's basically like the government version of Facebook Connect. Verizon, Google, PayPal, Symantec and AT&T all support the program already, but do you? Would you feel comfortable handing over your single login to the government?

There's a poll on this page - "No" is about 90%.

More Verizon iPhone stuff, this time from Slate:

Should I Buy a Verizon iPhone? Five reasons why you might want to hold off.

Epic -- It depends on what kind of DVR you have. If it's a Tivo, they offer a tool called TivoToGo that lets you transfer stuff from the DVD to your computer and vice versa. I know nothing about non-Tivo DVRs.

ReadWriteWeb reports that the United States government plans to create an identity ecosystem that will allow a user to have a single verified identity and use it to sign in to any site supporting the program.

I'm skeptical that there's any such plan in place. This just doesn't seem to pass the smell test.

I'm skeptical that there's any such plan in place. This just doesn't seem to pass the smell test.

I dug a little deeper - the source of my link:

Obama's Internet Plan Sounds an Awful Lot Like a National Internet ID

It has a link to "National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace" (same site), which is dead. Article was posted yesterday. But if I google "National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace", I do get a lot of results. Here's one from the White House blog: [link]

Haven't read that yet, as I gotta get back to work.

eta: Some stuff from the White House blog:

The NSTIC, which is in response to one of the near term action items in the President’s Cyberspace Policy Review, calls for the creation of an online environment, or an Identity Ecosystem as we refer to it in the strategy, where individuals and organizations can complete online transactions with confidence, trusting the identities of each other and the identities of the infrastructure that the transaction runs on. For example, no longer should individuals have to remember an ever-expanding and potentially insecure list of usernames and passwords to login into various online services. Through the strategy we seek to enable a future where individuals can voluntarily choose to obtain a secure, interoperable, and privacy-enhancing credential (e.g., a smart identity card, a digital certificate on their cell phone, etc) from a variety of service providers – both public and private – to authenticate themselves online for different types of transactions (e.g., online banking, accessing electronic health records, sending email, etc.). Another key concept in the strategy is that the Identity Ecosystem is user-centric – that means you, as a user, will be able to have more control of the private information you use to authenticate yourself on-line, and generally will not have to reveal more than is necessary to do so.

I know nothing about non-Tivo DVRs.

Time Warner standard issue non-Tivo DVR. Thanks anyhow.

Through the strategy we seek to enable a future where individuals can voluntarily choose to obtain a secure, interoperable, and privacy-enhancing credential (e.g., a smart identity card, a digital certificate on their cell phone, etc) from a variety of service providers – both public and private – to authenticate themselves online for different types of transactions (e.g., online banking, accessing electronic health records, sending email, etc.).

Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea.

I think it's inevitable, though it may be further in the future than the current administration might like.

I might do it, if I were certain my days of almost-crime were entirely behind me. Hope remains.