Oh Comcast, you so silly!
Provide horrible customer service? Constantly disconnecting users from the internet? Charging highly obscene unadvertised penalties for users using too much data? Throttling back network connections because your users dare actually use their available bandwidth? All of this giving you a horrible corporate image that day after day takes more hits in the media? If so, then there is only one way to make it all better, rebrand yourself! Why bother actually addressing consumer problems and improving your network capability when you can spend all that money on changing your name! IN ALL CAPS! XFINITY!
This is the reason that the US is lagging behind the rest of the modern world in home network infrastructure. The so-called “gate keepers” of the internet have no real desire nor incentive to fix the ever growing list of network problems. Because there is a severe lack of provider options in this country, and little to no regulation, companies use rebranding tactics in an attempt to dazzle people in to forgetting their internet sucks.
Nice try, but your 90’s edgy naming attitude ain’t going to cut it Com… er XFINITY.
Tags: corporate shenanigans, stupid people
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Feb 4th, 2010 at 14:58
What, me be evil?
I’ve mused before about Google having power because of their access to amazing amounts of data. Well one of the things I feared seems to be a step closer to reality. It appears Google and the NSA are formalizing an agreement to work together. The motives, on their very surface, seem innocent and practical enough. The NSA is going to help Google by giving them access to data of corporate hacks so that they can dissect them in order to find ways to protect their own network. Certainly that doesn’t sound all that evil. Still, the NSA hasn’t exactly endeared itself to the American public after evidence of massive warrantless wiretapping of the population were brought to light. The more paranoid amongst us might see this as a step on a slippery slope of the NSA having access to an extraordinary amount of data that could be mined for all sorts of personal details that go far beyond the scope of simply ease dropping on phone calls.
Remember people, privacy isn’t ever going to be a valued commodity until we say enough is enough and make it one. Exercise your power and your freedom of speech whilst it’s still available to you.
Tags: big brother is watching
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Feb 4th, 2010 at 14:09
Network connections, the ticking time bomb.
I stumbled upon an interesting article comparing the safety of the internet to both a wild west frontier, and a place ruled by the “laws of the jungle”. The article details data that was collected about the number, frequency, and scale of attacks on major corporate and governmental networks. The scary part isn’t that this attacks happen, but how successful they can be. Each iteration of attack is more sophisticated than the next. This is going beyond the mere script kiddie attacks that have been common for quite awhile. The level of sophistication used shows and organization of the attacks, and some sort of infrastructure.
The news has recently talked about these so-called “cyber attacks” by China on various governments and companies around the globe. While these are the more publicized attacks, the majority of them appear to be coming from highly technical criminal enterprises. The motive is the same as it always has been with these types of organizations: money.
Companies don’t want to talk about it when these things happen. Even if they are successful in fending off would-be black mailers or corporate data hijackers, they don’t want to report the attempts. Fear of a decline in stock prices, giving off the appearance of being weak or vulnerable, or just the all to common veil of corporate secrecy are some of the reasons that these situations are never made public.
What’s even more frightening is that in this time of recession, companies are cutting their security budgets. They are trying to make due with less. Meanwhile those who would plunder them are increasing their resources and finding new ways to infiltrate protected networks. When there are threats on someones physical well-being the typical response isn’t to slash the number of security personnel protecting them, it’s to increase it. Yet when it comes to data, the life blood of corporate America, this is exactly what they are doing – cutting back security in an attempt to save a couple of bucks. It’s another striking example of short-sightedness that can end up costing companies more in the long run.
Protecting our networks against these threats is a monumental task. The internet is a global entity, policing it is near impossible as all governments work under their own set of laws, seldom working well with others. Attempts at working together often lead to tangled, and slow moving bureaucracies. Governments are not designed to be quick and responsive, however the internet is an ever changing rapidly evolving place. It requires a quickness of response.
There’s not a clear cut solution to this. Just as with any other type of crime there is no fool-proof system that can’t be cracked. Education and ever evolving security practices can minimize the risk. Just like you shouldn’t walk through a bad part of town with a wallet stuffed with cash, corporate networks shouldn’t leave their data out in the wind, unprotected where someone with a little technical aptitude can get at it.
Tags: Politics & Law, security and safety
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Feb 1st, 2010 at 16:48
iPad. Less Exciting than Cat Woman.
Well Apple finally released the long rumored Apple tablet computer. Amazingly enough it was one of the most dull and uninteresting product releases I can remember. I was honestly excited for a potential Apple tablet. While I was pretty sure it wasn’t something I would rush out to get, I did believe it would have a fairly high drool factor. What I wasn’t expecting was all that Apple was releasing was an iPod touch with a thyroid condition.
I’ve watched the videos, read the reports and Steve Jobs spiel and still I am amazing overwhelmed. Sure, it may have just been the massive amount of hype that has been surrounding this thing, but I don’t think so. I can pin point a few of, what I consider to be, pretty glaring short comings.
- The very first thing I noticed about it was that it’s not a widescreen device. For something that’s only 9.7″ when I’m watching video I don’t want to have to deal with black bars when watching wide screen content. For a media oriented device this just seems silly to me. No, not a deal breaker, but something that rubbed me the wrong way from the get go.
- While the iPad seems to have a more polished version of the iPhone OS, it seems like too stripped down, and too locked down to be a “great” product. Sure, it’s still useful, and the iPhone OS is entirely serviceable. But in a time when other companies have touch screen machines running full OS versions this just seems a bit silly. Especially after how much he cuts on netbooks and then releases a product that is more stripped down than “a cheap laptop”.
- Again it seems as if Apple wants nothing at all to do with Flash, as, like the iPhone/iPod Touch, the web browser lacks a Flash plugin. A device like the iPad would be great for Hulu video, or any number of streaming content sites. However without Flash these sites are a no go. While some people see Flash as becoming irrelevant in the not so distant future as HTML 5 brings its own embedded streaming standards, it is however relevant now. They are releasing this device now, not in the future, and to ignore a current dominant standard seems absolutely silly.
- Finally, what I see as the biggest deal breaker of them all, is the lack of multitasking. Only being able to have one app going at once is short-sighted, and something I’d expect from a device from several years ago. On my 1st Gen iPod Touch I can understand there are hardware limitations. On Apple’s much touted “blazing fast” A4 chip I’d expect it to handle the running of multiple applications like a champ. Why is this feature lacking? I wish I knew, but it sets the iPad behind devices that are less technologically impressive. Big fail on this one Apple.
It’s true that three of these four complaints could be addressed by software updates. I certainly hope that they are. Currently, however, this device seems aimed at a very small niche market. It looks to me more like a proto-type than an actual prime time ready release. I can see the iPad, however, sparking competing devices that will force innovation in this newly emerging market. The iPad might be a precursor, but in its current incarnation its nothing more than an overgrown iPod desperately seeking a market.
Tags: Apple Fanboy, mobile tech
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Jan 28th, 2010 at 15:04
AT&T losing (or giving up) its iPhone exclusivity?
The newest rumors in the mysterious Apple announcement on January 27th apparently come from an AT&T insider who claims that on the 27th Apple will announce that other carriers will soon have the iPhone available on their networks. While Verizon is one of the more likely candidates, hardware issues make the current iPhones unusable on their network. This would mean that Apple would also have to be releasing new hardware. There has been some speculation that Apple may be releasing a new iPhone on the 27th – if so it certainly helps lend credibility to the idea that one of the most drooled after phones will soon be available on competing networks.
It certainly seems like there is a good chance of this happening. While AT&T has moved a lot of iPhone’s, it has also burdened their service like no phone before it. They’ve been getting a lot of negative press, so losing exclusivity could help relieve some of the burden and allow them to push more of other variety of phones that they see better financial returns from. It would also be a boon to consumers who lust after the iPhone as it would give them choice, and competition, in theory, helps to lower price and give new incentives to the consumers. Verizon’s recent price cut on unlimited plans was followed by a nearly identical price drop by AT&T.
The iPhone’s on another network rumor sound more plausible to me than a tablet announcement after so many disappointments in the past. Still, no one said the event on the 27th has to be limited to one device. Apple is the master of “Just one more thing…”. Perhaps a networked tablet from Apple riding on Verizon’s airwaves? We’ll just have to wait until the 27th to see.
Tags: Apple Fanboy
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Jan 24th, 2010 at 17:15