Americans like to think that they lead the world in most things (sometimes everything). There are many things that America does well, but it is far from universal.
In trying to assess my ISP speed performance issues, I learned about the Ookla speedtest. This is the source of many of the "speedtest" web pages around the net. Ya' gotta' wonder if you are paying for 3 Mbps and only occasionally getting above 1.5 Mbps.
http://ookla.com/
Ookla also produces stats for the Net Index site. This site shows download and upload speeds from around the world.
http://www.netindex.com/
The USA is not in the top 10 countries. The USA comes in at number 27.
One might think that the USA is a large country and that some of the slower, rural ISP providers could be dragging its numbers down. Surely, some of the major cities would be front runners.
The city ranking list shows its first USA city, Long Beach, California, at number 24.
The Google effort to wire pilot cities with high-speed, fiber optic Internet services is an experiment. What would people do or be able to do with availability of that much bandwidth?
http://www.fiberforcommunities.com/
What we must have is more people exercising their brain cells. I mean more than just public school students. If what we find from the Google experiment is that more people will be more entertained, then we can give up.
2010-09-28
2010-09-26
Links can be deceiving
Just because it looks like a URL does not mean that it is telling you where the link will take you. The text that is presented and the underlying URL are two separate things.
An email arrived that shows the following text.
The reason is that the URL specified for this text link will take you first to the icptrack.com domain to be counted. The email sender probably uses this to measure the effectiveness of their email advertising or it is perhaps how someone makes more points to get paid.
Here are the presented links and the underlying URL to which they will take the user.
Ok, so call me old-fashioned, but I do not particularly like this. The advertiser probably knows that if the presented text informs the user that the link will take them to, or through, the icptrack.com domain, that it will probably not be used.
To avoid this reluctance, the text presented makes the user think the link will take them directly to the info-mgmt.com and twitter.com domains. This causes the user to think they know what is happening, when the truth is that they are just believing what they perceive.
This is in the direction of, if not all the way toward, deception.
I am not trying to stop the advertiser from generating metrics about their work. I just want them to tell me what they are doing with the information they are gathering about me. This is not enough for me to make an informed decision about whether or not I should click on the link.
Am I over-the-edge on this one? Should I just click and move on?
An email arrived that shows the following text.
http://info-mgmt.com/dmradioHowever, if you have your browser status bar enabled, you can see that these will not take you to the info-mgmt.com or the twitter.com domains. At least, not directly.
http://twitter.com/briefing_room
The reason is that the URL specified for this text link will take you first to the icptrack.com domain to be counted. The email sender probably uses this to measure the effectiveness of their email advertising or it is perhaps how someone makes more points to get paid.
Here are the presented links and the underlying URL to which they will take the user.
http://info-mgmt.com/dmradio
http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=23525607&msgid=310849&act=HLZZ&c=247241&destination=http%3A%2F%2Finfo-mgmt.com%2Fdmradio
===
http://twitter.com/briefing_room
http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=23525607&msgid=310849&act=HLZZ&c=247241&destination=http%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbriefing_room
Ok, so call me old-fashioned, but I do not particularly like this. The advertiser probably knows that if the presented text informs the user that the link will take them to, or through, the icptrack.com domain, that it will probably not be used.
To avoid this reluctance, the text presented makes the user think the link will take them directly to the info-mgmt.com and twitter.com domains. This causes the user to think they know what is happening, when the truth is that they are just believing what they perceive.
This is in the direction of, if not all the way toward, deception.
I am not trying to stop the advertiser from generating metrics about their work. I just want them to tell me what they are doing with the information they are gathering about me. This is not enough for me to make an informed decision about whether or not I should click on the link.
Am I over-the-edge on this one? Should I just click and move on?
2010-08-23
International calling rates
Given the global nature of my work, a good bit of time is spent on the telephone to places outside my own country of residence. While there have been many changes since the bad old days when one would pay USD 5.00 or more per minute. I had the opportunity to pay over USD 7.00 per minute when calling home from India a number of years ago.
Not only has the breakup of AT&T caused competition, the massive investment of telcos in bandwidth during the 1990's and the spread of VoIP have driven pricing to a fraction of previous rates.
If you are an infrequent user of international telephone services, then paying a somewhat high rate may be annoying, but in the end it does not represent a significant amount of money. On the other hand, if you frequently call internationally, you should definitely plan to review your rates at least quarterly.
Calls to each country generally have separate pricing. One cannot just say that the international call rate for carrier A is one price. The price will usually vary by both originating country and destination country.
And if that were not enough, rates within each county will often vary from city to city and by line type. When comparing rates, you should at least compare the carrier's rates for landline and cellular calls for the cities you usually call.
For example, using Vonage as the carrier, calling a landline in the UK is free. Well, free means no additional charge above the flat monthly rate. However, calling a cell phone in the UK is USD 0.28 per minute. On Vonage, calling both landline and cell phones are free (no additional charge) to India.
Doing some recent comparison, calling a cell phone in the UK on Vonage is USD 0.28 per minute. On Google voice it is USD 0.18 per minute. On Localphone it is USD 0.12 per minute.
Below are links to these carrier's rate pages. If you have another favored carrier, or one to avoid, please let me know. Thanks.
Vonage rates
Google rates
Localphone rates
You will note that calling some types of lines such as satellite phones will be expensive. These might be used in ship-to-shore or middle-of-the-desert situations. Of course, if you must call, then you must call.
Not only has the breakup of AT&T caused competition, the massive investment of telcos in bandwidth during the 1990's and the spread of VoIP have driven pricing to a fraction of previous rates.
If you are an infrequent user of international telephone services, then paying a somewhat high rate may be annoying, but in the end it does not represent a significant amount of money. On the other hand, if you frequently call internationally, you should definitely plan to review your rates at least quarterly.
Calls to each country generally have separate pricing. One cannot just say that the international call rate for carrier A is one price. The price will usually vary by both originating country and destination country.
And if that were not enough, rates within each county will often vary from city to city and by line type. When comparing rates, you should at least compare the carrier's rates for landline and cellular calls for the cities you usually call.
For example, using Vonage as the carrier, calling a landline in the UK is free. Well, free means no additional charge above the flat monthly rate. However, calling a cell phone in the UK is USD 0.28 per minute. On Vonage, calling both landline and cell phones are free (no additional charge) to India.
Doing some recent comparison, calling a cell phone in the UK on Vonage is USD 0.28 per minute. On Google voice it is USD 0.18 per minute. On Localphone it is USD 0.12 per minute.
Below are links to these carrier's rate pages. If you have another favored carrier, or one to avoid, please let me know. Thanks.
Vonage rates
Google rates
Localphone rates
You will note that calling some types of lines such as satellite phones will be expensive. These might be used in ship-to-shore or middle-of-the-desert situations. Of course, if you must call, then you must call.
2010-08-09
Here's to friends and enemies and friends
It seems odd. The changes in relationships that occur due to work restructuring. Even beyond the infamous "re-org," the economy has cause many workforce reductions.
Many people are striking out on their own, building new organizations. If it is in a similar field, there is almost an implicit expectation that competitive issues will arise. Those who worked well together are now competing for the same customers out of the same market.
Yet, I am finding that it does not inherently create alienation. Well, it probably does with some individuals. In my case, it seems that being able to acknowledge the other as a competitor, as the "enemy," is a new form of bonding. When it does not have an impact on our own business, we can seek new ways to work together.
I hope that the friend and former co-worker I talked with today knows that I want to keep the professional relationship. Yes, I am going to do what I can to win. I would expect no less from my friend.
Many people are striking out on their own, building new organizations. If it is in a similar field, there is almost an implicit expectation that competitive issues will arise. Those who worked well together are now competing for the same customers out of the same market.
Yet, I am finding that it does not inherently create alienation. Well, it probably does with some individuals. In my case, it seems that being able to acknowledge the other as a competitor, as the "enemy," is a new form of bonding. When it does not have an impact on our own business, we can seek new ways to work together.
I hope that the friend and former co-worker I talked with today knows that I want to keep the professional relationship. Yes, I am going to do what I can to win. I would expect no less from my friend.
2010-05-16
Go Palin, please go
In supporting the Arizona immigration law, Sarah Palin appears to be pulling a tactic from the Kennedy playbook. What does she think; that we will all stand up and say, "Ich bin Arizoner?"
This is not a comment on the law. Rather, on Palin's approach. In this land mine laden issue, perhaps she can get damaged enough to get her out of the media spotlight.
It would be refreshing to see the federal government do adequate due diligence and enforcement of the laws we have. Yes, those who wish to change the law should work toward that end as well. It would be nice to see both government and people abiding by the laws we have for a change.
It's time for Americans across this great country to stand up and say, 'We're all Arizonans now,'" Palin said.
This is not a comment on the law. Rather, on Palin's approach. In this land mine laden issue, perhaps she can get damaged enough to get her out of the media spotlight.
It would be refreshing to see the federal government do adequate due diligence and enforcement of the laws we have. Yes, those who wish to change the law should work toward that end as well. It would be nice to see both government and people abiding by the laws we have for a change.
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