Welcome to ex !

   There are now pictures up on the site! The majority are from the last couple of days at Geocast - the last all hands, some candid shots, etc.

The software running the image presentation is IDS (from http://ids.sourceforge.net). The software has some pros and cons.

The email alias is up and running! (Note that's .org and NOT .com. Right now, mail to exgeocast.com will bounce back to you. I'll see if I can get that fixed.)

The intention is to provide a place where people who worked for Geocast can talk to each other. Here at the start, I'm hoping that we all will use the alias to keep in contact about the job hunt - to let people know where you are working, and also to help each other find new jobs. As time goes on, hopefully we'll keep in touch as well as use this as a resource to locate people, good car repair places, etc etc etc.... :)

See the Contacts FAQ for additional information.

Wanna see the very first video Geocast ever broadcast over DTV? Courtesy of Reese and Mark S...

Well - that was the beginning...
And there were great times in the middle.
But then came the end....  

And who knew that Jerry was a poet??!

Here's a FAQ on the contacts alias. Please feel free to send me feedback. We can change the alias setup if we want to.

1. Who can join the mail alias?
   To avoid spammers, industry lurkers, and give us a place where we can freely speak our minds and not have to worry about divulging company secrets, only people that worked for Geocast can join. There are definitely some people out there that are not on the alias, so if you know of someone, please pass this URL along to them!
2. How do I subscribe?
   You can subscribe to receive email messages "real time" as they are sent to the alias or you can subscribe to receive messages in digest format.
   • To receive messages real time:
     1. Send email to ; no subject line is required.
        If you don't think that I'll know who you are, the in the body of the email, please include include any information that will help me identify you as a former Geocast employee. For example - who invited you to join the email alias, who you worked for, who else you worked with, the root password for the bricks, etc etc etc... If I don't recognize your name and you don't provide any information, you will not added to the email alias.
     2. You will receive an email back asking you to confirm that you want to subscribe. Just reply to the email.
     3. An email is sent to the alias moderators with your request to join.
     4. Once a moderator approves your request, you will get a message confirming that you have been added to the alias.
        
        Note that the original alias was created on March 6 from Cindy's most recent Contact list.
   • If you are getting too many emails, and would prefer to get just one email every so often, you might want to subscribe via digest.

     With digests, instead of getting email message real time as they are sent, the emails are collected and all sent out together. One digest email is sent when any of the following criteria have been met since the last digest was sent:

     • 30+ email messages have been sent to the list
     • a total of 64k or more of mail have been sent to the list
     • 48 hours have past since the last digest was sent

     To subscribe via digest to the alias, follow the above instructions with the exception that email should be sent to: .

     If you are currently a subscriber to the regular alias and would like to change to be a digest subscriber, please send email to the following addresses:

     • . with the same subscription process as above
     • . and follow the process below under "How do I unsubscribe..."
3. Who can send email to the alias?
   Only people subscribed to the alias can send emails to it.

4. How do I send email to the alias?
   Just send email to .
5. How do I unsubscribe from the alias?
   
   1. Send email to ; no subject or body is required.
   2. You will receive an email back asking you to confirm that you want to unsubscribe. Just reply to the email and you will be removed from the mail alias.
6. My email address changed. How do I update the alias with my new address?
   
   1. Easy! First, log into your old email account and unsubscribe by sending email to ; no subject or body is required.
   2. You will receive an email back asking you to confirm that you want to unsubscribe. Just reply to the email and you will be removed from the mail alias.
   3. Then log into your new email account and resubscribe, just like you did before.
7. Can I find out who all is on the alias?
   If you want to know who's currently on the alias, and I'll send you a current list. I don't know of a way right now for alias members to get this info on their own, but I'm checking into it.
8. Are there any known problems with the contacts mail alias?
   Well - as a matter of fact, there are a couple. :)
   1. If you subscribe with a hostname in your domain, e.g. "you@alum.mit.edu", it is possible that your postings will be rejected because the qmail program on exgeocast.org thinks your mail is coming from "mit.edu" instead of "alum.mit.edu". If this happens to you, I'll see your mail attempt and I will (1) forward your mail to the alias and (2) subscribe you again to the alias as "you@mit.edu". This means that you will get 2 copies of all emails, but you will also be able to successfully post to the alias. I am working with my ISP to understand and resolve this problem (aee, 3/6/01)
   2. If you send email to " ", it will bounce. I don't know if I can get that fixed or not, but I'm checking into it. (aee, 3/6/01)
9. What software is used to run the contacts email alias?
   The alias is run using a program called ezmlm. Ezmlm is a mail list administrative package which runs with qmail, the mailer that my ISP uses. It's similar to majordomo, but uses different commands.
10. What ezmlm features was the alias set up with?
    I set up this email alias with the following features:
    • The subscriber alias is moderated. In order to join the alias, a person must be added by a moderator. See notes above on how to join the alias.
    • Messages to the alias are not moderated, but you must be subscribed to the alias to successfully send email to it (to help avoid spamming.)
    • The text " [contacts] " prepends each subject line; this should allow you to filter the messages if you choose to do so.
    • The alias is NOT currently set up to accomodate digests, but I'll add that soon. (Digests allow you to get all messages in one email every so often instead of getting each message real time as it is sent.
11. Can we create new email aliases?
    Absolutely! As long as the aliases are Geocast-related or applicable to Geocast folk. If you would like to start a alias for a a specific purpose, such as maybe for Marketing or Engineering,
12. Can we create a bulletin board style messaging system?
    I suppose we could, but I don't know how. If anyone else does, let me know...
13. Whom do I contact if I have questions about the alias?
    All emails should be addressed to Anne Eagle at .
    BTW - I'm the Anne that ran the UI group, not the Ann in the server group. :)

If you have any photos, text, etc for the site, or if you'd like to help, Thanks!