Sanders Media

Broadband has truly reached mass appeal. We are now seeing issues come up that we never could have imagined 5 years ago. With the prevalence of video and audio online, bandwidth has become a hot topic. To deal with the burden on their networks, some ISP’s are putting caps on usage. Users may now face the prospect of rationing their internet use. 

Currently, the country’s second largest broadband ISP is Comcast. In this article in the recent issue of Wired magazine, Daniel Roth talks about how they are trying to rebuild their image. Comcast’s reputation was dragged through the mud after it was revealed they were slowing down the connections of customers who were using large amounts of bandwidth without telling them. What followed was a very public repudiation from the FCC.

That incident brought forth an interesting question. Do we have a right to internet access, or is it simply an extra in our budget? In other words, is it a utility or a luxury? Utility is defined as the state of being useful or beneficial. Luxury is defined as the state of great comfort and extravagant living. Initially we considered the internet to be a novelty. A source of entertainment. Now we use it for everything from shopping to government services. Can it still be thought of as a nonessential?

I think it would be in the best interest of everyone involved to enhance our existing network infrastructure, rather than cut usage. Instead of curtailing innovation, the ISP’s need to create an environment that fosters it. They only stand to gain. Let’s hope they understand this.

I’ve got a completely non-tech post today. In fact, I’m going to ask you for money. This money, however, is not for me. It is for a great organization called Love Helps. Love Helps is a Nashville, Tennessee-based nonprofit organization working in Middle Tennessee’s public schools to encourage student achievement and responsible behavior.

They have fund raisers throughout the year, but my wife and I participate in Team Excel. With Team Excel, we train for the Country Music Half-Marathon. Every sponsorship dollar we raise goes to Love Helps and their mission. Each runner has a website that provides a way to donate with your credit card online. My wife’s site is here. This is a copy of the donation letter.

If you feel strongly about the education of our children, please consider donating.

This may sound like a silly question, but bear with me. Since many of us use WiFi at home, the office or both, we are aware of it’s limitations. While convenient for moving around, WiFi is limited to the signal strength from the router. Also, it can’t compare to wired connection speeds even in the best circumstances. For those of us who move large amounts of data or stream lots of media online, this can be problematic. I certainly don’t think WiFi is going anywhere anytime soon, but with mobility becoming more important, you could see it’s use lessen.

In later posts, I’ll touch on new standards such as FIOS and WiMAX. These exciting technologies will open our eyes to the greater potential of the internet.

This is an oft asked question. In years past, you could easily make a case for buying a new computer every 2 years. This was especially true if you used it for audio, video or graphic design. Now, upgrading the individual components of your computer is a viable way to go. Even though technology improves so fast, computer components are better able to handle future upgrades. For instance, even though there are newer CPU chips with 4 or more cores, few applications are able to utilize more than 2 cores.

So, before you start looking at buying a new computer, check to see if a simple memory upgrade would speed up your machine. If you need a larger hard drive, it would be much cheaper  to add an extra internal hard drive. These types of upgrades will extend the life of your computer, and save you some money.

The title comes from this website that encourages people to ditch Internet Explorer as their web browser of choice. This is not a Mac vs. PC issue. Rather, this discussion aims to show users safer, more productive browsers. While Microsoft has upgraded IE over time, they are often several months to years behind their competition in the innovation department. Hackers have found numerous ways to pull personal information from IE users. So here is a list of browsers that you should try. I know there are sites that only support IE. This is lazy design in my opinion, but I’ll save that rant for another day.

1. Mozilla Firefox: This has to be the most popular browser after IE. The Firefox developers are usually at the forefront of innovation. You will find that it is built for speed and security. Firefox is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
2. Opera: This browser out of Norway has a devoted user base. Like most current browsers, it has features such as tabbed browsing and built in web search. Opera is compatible with a slew of operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
3. Chrome: This is Google’s very own web browser. Since they’ve become such a powerhouse in the Web 2.0 world, it is only a matter of time before Google developed a browser. It has some truly innovative features such as improved tabbed browsing, greater support for web applications and incognito browsing. Read this article to see a deeper breakdown of Chrome’s features. Currently, Chrome is only Windows compatible.
4. Safari: This is Apple’s browser. It has many of the same features as the other 3, but it’s sleek, minimalist design will appeal to users who hate clutter. While Safari used to be Mac only, they’ve now added a Windows version.

These browsers are free, and will greatly improve your internet experience. Ditch Internet Explorer and browse happy!

I thought I would clue the uninitiated in on a few of the copious amounts of acronyms in the computer world. I’m sure many of you have wondered what jpg, ssl or http mean. Well, wonder no more. Here is a sampling.

• AVI – Advanced Video Interleave
• SSL – Secure Sockets Layer
• TIFF – Tagged Information File Format
• PHP – Personal Home Page
• JPEG or JPG – Joint Photographic Experts Group
• CD-ROM – Compact Disk-Read Only Memory
• HTML – Hyper Text Markup Language
• HTTP – HyperText Transfer Protocol
• POP3 – Post Office Protocol version 3
• IMAP – Internet Message Access Protocol
• DLL – Dynamic Link Library

No subculture (i.e. computer geeks) is without it’s insider humor. These are some examples you may have seen in email from your IT department.

• DOS – Defunct Operating System
• BAD -  Broken As Designed (inferior products that will require constant upgrades)
• PEBKAC –  Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair
• ID10T (pronounced eye dee ten tee) – Most common type of problem. 

Now you no longer have to feel uninformed when you receive email from your IT department. You can throw it right back at them.

Happy New Year!