A Reading Reco | Pretty Picture | Saturday Fun

I like weekends …

First up, this week’s “recommended reading”:

* The simple, sensible — and impossible — fix for the Internet in the USA The solution to our broadband woes is so fair and practical that it stands no chance of coming to fruition in the States

“Cory Doctorow recently wrote, “Try as I might, I can’t shake the feeling that 2014 is the year we lose the Web.” He may be right about that, but I’m not sure it’s just the Web we’ll lose in 2014. More than likely, we’re about to lose the entire Internet as we know it.” Read more..

[note: there are links in this article that are good/important reads as well.]

Sunday Beauty (a day early): This weeks’ first image is more ‘interesting’ than ‘pretty’..

Click on image to see more by this artist

“Staircase” by ghcheng85, courtesy of Flickr Commons

Friday Fun Video (a day late):

[youtube:http://youtu.be/R1lvj1WPiH4%5D

Of course there are. And you’re one of them. Right?

Copyright 2007-2014 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
And please, never forget – one person can make a difference.
Find a way to make someone’s day.

Click on image to see more by this artist (reco’d)

“Inspired” by Yogendra Joshi, courtesy of Flickr Commons

Best High-speed Internet Provider Where You Live

To locate and identify what types of Internet services are available where you live, what they cost, and what people are saying about them (user reviews) — a service locator is a good place to start: such as the one at the very useful website, Broadband/DSL Reports. (No. It is not just for DSL.) Simply click on the “find service” tab, and enter your ZIP code.

If upgrading to a faster type of connection simply is not possible where you live, you may be able to “tweak” your TCP/IP Settings for slightly better performance. This involves changing things in the Windows Registry, and so I recommend that you use a safe tool to try this (if you try it at all), and one of the best of these can be found on the “Tools” page at DSL Reports. Use the tools there to determine if there are any problems with your settings, and follow the recommendations (particularly, “Tweak Test”). Then download Dr. TCP and make the adjustments recommended by the Tweak Test tool to “optimize” your connection. Run another speed test or two (or three). If there’s no improvement, use Dr. TCP to revert to your previous settings.

Of Interest: Get It While You Can – Microsoft Office Starter 2010

“Typically when you buy a computer these days, you will see Microsoft Office Starter 2010 included in the deal. Microsoft Office Starter 2010 includes Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, with limited functionality and is ad supported. Recently, on the blogging circuit, I noticed that it was discovered that Microsoft Office Starter 2010 could in fact […]” Read more..

Today’s quote: “A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.” ~ Dave Barry

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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Rural Areas Stuck With Dial-up?

The other day I was helping a client via my remote desktop tool (over the Internet) and I thought this person really had a problem, but they weren’t talking about that — they were talking about Outlook.

It was like they were ignoring the elephant in the room.

So, finally, I asked. Er.. um.. pardon me, but.. don’t you think there’s a problem with your Internet?

“What do you mean?” they replied.

Huh? So I said, “Well, no offense but, it’s slower than molasses in January.” (I suspected a hefty spyware infection..)

Fortunately, my client laughed, and told me that where they lived, all they could get was dial-up Internet. And it was running “pretty good” lately at 28 Kbps.

Kilobits? That’s so.. early-to-mid-1990’s!

Tip of the day: If you live in a “rural area” and neither cable nor DSL service is available (yet), and you would like to join the world of “Mega” (aka “broadband”), you do have some options you may not be aware of.

Option 1: Satellite.
Satellite providers, such as HughesNet and WildBlue, can provide up to 1.5 Mbps (equal to basic DSL) for residences, and faster for (pricier) “Business” plans.

Option 2: Microwave.
This is also know as ‘fixed wireless’ and ‘wireless broadband’, and has a range of about 25 miles from the transmitter. (It works kind of like a radio station). Often, these are set up by small, independent ISP’s, and finding them is done by geography. KeyOn is one that covers the area my client was in, and you might try an indexing service like this one, to locate a provider near you. This will give you speeds “up to 50x’s faster than dial-up”.

Option 3: (The wave of the future?) WiMax.
WiMax is also a microwave technology, capable (I have read) of speeds of up to 70 Mbps. US residents will have to wait for this technology to become ubiquitous, but if this sounds appealing, take a look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX.

Today’s free link: http://www.broadbandreports.com/ is the place to go to find a high-speed service near you (the “Find Service” tab). But it is much more than just that; you can find reviews of ISP’s, and there’s tools for testing and tweaking your speed, and much more.

* hidden bonus for those of you who read all the way through: Free ZoneAlarm Pro – One Day Only!

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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