Global Geek News Blog

Greetings Readers!

As I am sure you are aware by now, the FCC ruled against Comcast for throttling P2P traffic and has been ordered to stop and disclose all of their “network management” practices.  Comcast responded by saying they are working on a “protocol agnostic” system for managing their traffic which should be in place by the end of the year.  This would make sense if the story ended there.  Unfortunately, this isn’t following the path of “do something wrong, get caught, suffer the consequences.”  Instead of admiting their mistake and moving on, Comcast has decided to roll the dice and sue the FCC to try to get the ruling overturned.

Comcast is making no sense, first they say they will comply with the ruling and that they are already in the process of putting a new system in place and then they go and sue the FCC to have the ruling overturned.  If you are going to comply with the ruling, why spend the time and money dragging the issue out in court?  Essentially it all boils down to a single question, is Comcast on the side of the consumer or just another greedy corporation that cares more about the size of its bank account more than the people that pay to use its service?  Given this and the newly announced 250GB bandwidth cap, I think the answer to this question is rather obvious.

If there were any brains behind the operations at Comcast, they would be thanking the FCC for not giving them the fine of a lifetime among other actions that many have been calling for.  With everything that has happened with the FCC, the 250GB cap among other things, Comcast has a black eye right now and needs to do everything it can to show its not some evil company that is out to horde as much money as it can get its hands on.  Comcast needs to work on becoming a consumer centric company, where the consumer matters above all else.  If you can make customers happy and not give them the perception that you are out to screw them to help yourself, you are going to have a much easier time winning over potential customers to your service.

While what I am suggesting won’t happen overnight if it does at all, Comcast needs to get its message straight and not send mixed messages.  If they want to do whatever they can to help the consumer and live up to thier Comcastic slogan, that is the message they need to send.  If they don’t want that to be their message, they need to clarify exactly what their message is.  Saying one thing and then fighting against the consequences you earned is not the way to send a clear message.

I will be writing another Comcast related article later today specifically about the 250GB cap, but I decided I want this post out first.

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Greetings Readers!

Sorry it has been so long since I wrote anything.  Starting today, that will change.  Today I wanted to talk a bit about Google Chrome.  So without further delay, here are my thoughts on Google’s Chrome browser.

I will start off with what the browser does well.  The browser is amazingly fast.  Thanks to the V8 JavaScript engine, the browser is incredibly fast.  The simplicity of the browser also helps here.  The browser does a great job with sites like Hulu and all of the web services that Google offers.

The other things I noticed that are great include having each tab as a separate process and some of the security features such as the incognito mode.  Having each tab be its own process is great for a couple of reasons.  First, if a website makes the tab crash, it only takes down that one tab rather than the entire browser.  This also makes things more secure when browsing.  The browser seems to have been designed with security as one of the biggest concerns.  Before I move on, I will say that having each tab as its own process has a major drawback in that it uses considerably more memory.  This is not what you want if you are using a bunch of different browsers.  Incognito mode is pretty cool.  This will allow you to type things into the address bar without having it saved.  If you want to leave even fewer tracks, you can delete all your browsing data with a click.  It also does a good job of importing and exporting bookmarks.  Those are the good things, but now its time to address the things that aren’t so good.

To start, functionality seems to have been sacraficed in the name of simplicity.  The perfect example of this is the lack of a home button.  How something as crucial as a home button can be sacraficed for a concept such as simplicity, blows my mind.  Also, the browser seems to have got rid of the idea of the traditional status bar.  While there is a status indicator at the bottom of the page when its performing an action or when you are hovering over a link, there is no traditional, static status bar.  For most people, im sure this is just a minor annoyance but thanks to Firefox extensions, I have come to need a status bar.

The browser also lacks good ad blocking.  Something I have become very attached to is the Firefox extension, Ad Block.  I like being able to block ads and focus on the content I am consuming.  Considering Google is an advertising service, I understand why there is no ad blocking, but that doesn’t mean I like this choice.

There also don’t seem to be any support for saving tabs to open them back up where you left off the next time you open the browser.  Many browsers have had similar features for years, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with Chrome.  The browser also lacks RSS support.  There is no way of reading an RSS feed from your browser like Firefox and other browsers have.  Worse yet, It doesn’t even tell you when an RSS feed has been detected on a site.

I’m not too sure what to think of the Chrome logo either, it looks like a redesigned Pokemon Pokeball.

Finally, I want to talk about the EULA.  If you aren’t one to read EULAs, you might want to think twice.  The Google Chrome EULA states the following:

By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

This is rather disturbing.  Basically anything you use Chrome to create, including blog posts, videos or pretty much anything else, becomes Google’s to do with as they please.  I plan to avoid creating anything on the browser for this reason.  If you want to read more, I suggest heading over to Gizmodo.

These are just some of my thoughts on the browser.  While it is a good start for a new browser in beta, not having something as simple as a home button is a deal breaker for me.  If you are looking to replace Internet Explorer, you might want to give Chrome a look, but if you are a power user or enjoy the extensions that browsers like Firefox and Opera enjoy, this is not the browser for you.  Personally, I will be sticking with Firefox.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the new browser, so please post them in the comments!

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Greetings Readers!

For those that haven’t heard, the number of computers in use around the world has hit 1 Billion!  Im not sure if I am more suprised that we have hit this mark or that we haven’t hit this mark until now.

According to this story, the primary reason for hitting this number now and the projected doubling of the number by early 2014 is about broadband and wireless internet as well as low cost computers.

While I think that point is valid, I think its more about computers being necessary for life in a first wold country.  With everything moving online from government information to television shows, in the time of high gas prices we are in, it is cheaper and more convienent to do things online than it is to do them in person.  With news netorks pointing to their websites for more information on stories, it is clear the value of computers and the internet and to have them is crucial for almost anybody.

While I know there are some people that don’t have computers, especailly older people, that is slowly changing as people see how their life can improve by having a computer with an internet connection.  Computers and the internet aren’t going away so if you know somebody who doesn’t have a computer, tell them to get with the 21st century!

That is only a part of this story.  The other part here is what happens to computers when people get rid of them.  It is epected that 180 million computers will be replaced this year alone.  There are many ways that people can get rid of their computer.  Many are sold or donated to those without computers while others are broken down and recycled.  What is really shocking is that approximately 35 million of those will be taking up space in landfills.  That is a lot of computers!  If computers can’t be saved and donated to local schools or charities, they should be recycled rather than thrown away.  The real problem is there is not a major effort to inform people about the harm that is caused by throwing computers away and the benefits of recycling them.  There needs to be an organized effort to get this information out to the world and let people know where they can take their dead computers.

People also need to be aware of the security issues involved in getting rid of a computer.  Unless you take measures to erase the data on your computer, your personal information is still on the hard drive, often including passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers and all kinds of other personal information.  If you dont want to risk your information falling into the wrong hands, replace the hard drive in the computer before you give it away or use some software that will overwrite the data on the hard drive multiple times so that it is extremely difficult to recover.  With a billion computers floating around, that is alot of personal data that can be lost if you don’t take proper measures to prevent the stealing of your information.

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Greetings Readers!

I have some rather suprising news for you today.  I have been banned from Digg.com!  For those who don’t know what happend, I will catch you up to speed before I post all correspondence that I had with Digg support.

Last week I made a wrote one of my insightful blog posts about Cisco’s predictions on internet traffic in 2013.  It happened that a similar blog post from Om Malik made it to the front page of Digg about the same story.  To give Digg readers another view, I posted my link into the comments on I believe it was Thursday.  Due to my inability to link properly, I only got a single person to visit my blog from posting the link in the comments.  Saturday morning I woke up and went to Digg a story that I saw on my Digg RSS feed to find that my account was invalid.  I did some searching to find that all signs of my existence on Digg had been completely removed.  Being completely confused as to what was going on, I contacted Digg support only to find out I was banned.  The following is all of the emails exchanged between myself and Digg support with a few thoughts thrown in.  At the end is my thoughts on the whole issue and I will discuss it further on the next Global Geek News podcast.

Support,

This morning I woke up to find myself logged out of Digg when I went to Digg this story: http://digg.com/space/Giant_Tsunami_on_the_Sun_Captured_By_NASA_s_STERO_Spacecraft
Figuring Firefox just deleted my cookies as it does on occasion, I went to login only to have the strange error claiming my account, pcnerd37 is invalid. Can you shed any light on what is going on? Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,

Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Digg’s Response:

Thanks for getting in touch with us at Digg.com regarding your account.

Your account was reported to us for abusive activity in comments. Specifically, spamming Digg comments with your blog “Global Geek News has a great blog post about this story, www.globalgeeknews.com/blog”

As explicitly stated in the Digg.com Terms of Service located at http://digg.com/tos section 5.1 USER CONDUCT:

5.1 By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree not to use the Services: to abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other Digg users;
Also, note that in our Terms of Service, we reserve the right to, “Digg may remove any Content and Digg accounts at any time for any reason (including, but not limited to, upon receipt of claims or allegations from third parties or authorities relating to such Content), or for no reason at all.”

We are willing to unban your account once we receive notification from you that you have reviewed the Digg.com Terms of Service and re-affirm your agreement to those terms.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us should you have any further questions.

Thank you,

-The Digg Support Team.

Ok, so I screwed up in two ways on the linking, not only did it not link but I apparently forgot to link to the direct article, but with the story remaining the top post on the blog, the main blog link will still take them to the right story.

Digg Support Team,

I have reviewed your terms of service, which I have always agreed to, and find the complaint without merit. The link which I failed to copy correctly, leaving off the part to the direct article (oops), was for more information on the post in which the comment was left. As a service to my fellow Digg users, I attempted to post a link to a blog post where more information on the dugg story could be found. It was not intended in any way to be “spam”. If you want to get real technical about it, since I left off the http://, it was not even hyperlinked in the comments.

The Terms of Service section you quoted me seems to lack application here as I was not trying to abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other digg users. I was merely trying to give them a link for more information on the story which I believe to be in the spirit of Digg. Furthermore, I find actions taking against me were overkill. The appropriate response would be to delete the post and send a warning email, not delete or ban the account. Banning would be understandable if it was a case of repeated “abuse”. I would suggest it is time to review your policies for interacting with loyal Digg users.

Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I will be podcasting and blogging about this experience on Global Geek News.

Sincerely,
Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Digg needs to better define the terms such as “abuse” that it uses in its terms of service to help avoid confusion. Everything else here is fairly self explanatory.

Digg’s Response:

Hi Jeremy,

In addition to section 5.1 on the Terms of Use, we would also like to specifically direct your attention to section 5.7 which states that you agree not to use the Services:

to submit stories or comments linking to affiliate programs, multi-level marketing schemes, *sites/blogs repurposing existing stories* (source hops), or off-topic content;

Also, the Digg FAQ directly addresses this policy as well:

Is it ok to put my website link as a signature in comments?
No, it is not okay to advertise anything of any kind in the comments section. We ask that, as a story commenter, you keep your comments on-topic to the story you’re currently on. Any irrelevant links, spam, etc. could result in an account ban for the offending user.

-Digg Support

Digg is trying to pull relevant policies out of its butt, but they aren’t doing a very good job as shown in my response email.

Digg Support,

Thanks for your response. As far as your Section 5.7, had I posted the correct link that I meant to (again, oops), It would clearly not be repurposing the story any more than the Digg story which was just a repurposing of a release from Cisco. In regards to your FAQ, there are two main things. First, It states IRRELEVANT links! The intended link, which I will include was not irrelevant. Second, asking and requiring are two different things. Asking implies a courtesy, not a necessity. If you are going to quote it, please reword it to say what you mean. Last, I noticed you completely avoided the issue about how you deal with these situations and Digg users. I find this very curious as most companies that care about their users would have a clear and consumer centric policy when it comes to dealing with users. It is best to keep in mind that it is the users that keep you in business and relations with them should be as plesant as possible. If you look at product surveys, people believe that a large part of product satisfaction is customer service, something that Digg needs to work on. The Townhalls are a great step in the right direction but not enough to create a great user experience with the company.

Again, I would like to reiterate that I have no problem with your terms of service other than some poor wording, but attempting to scew it to a situation it does not apply is simply childish. I would like to give you the opportunity to publicly address these issues, especially how you deal with users on your site on the Global Geek News podcast. I do not have an exact time yet, but I will be bringing up these issues and believe it is only fair and in everyones best interest if I invite a representative of Digg onto the show to state their case and join in on the discussion. If you would be interested, let me know and I will set everything up.

Here is the link to the story that I meant to put in the comment but didnt realize until after the edit period was over that the link was incorrect: http://globalgeeknews.com/blog/?p=39

Sincerely,

Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

They seem to be having a hard time explaining themselves so I give them the opportunity to explain themselves and have a civilized discussion on my podcast. As it appears in the end, they don’t have enough interest to respond to that request. Thy didn’t respond after this email ripping into them, so I figured its time to email them to see what is going on.

Digg Support,

What am I to assume from the fact that you did not return my last email? I have stated I have no problem with your terms of service, yet I am still banned. Why? Unless I hear otherwise, I will assume your lack of a response means that you realized you have screwed up but aren’t willing to admit it. When it becomes apparent that this email conversation is over, that is when I will post my blog about this experience. My offer allowing somebody from Digg to come on the podcast to discuss various issues including its policies for interacting with users and how it defines its terms of service is still open. We typically record live on Thursdays if somebody would be interested in joining us. I finalize all show guests by Wednesday night, so you have until then to make arrangements to be on the podcast if you choose. Whether or not you are there, this will be discussed and I feel it is better for digg to be upfront and deal with this issue in an intelligent and civilized manner. If you choose not to take that path, I wish you luck with the bad publicity that results from the podcast and blog. I look forward to futher communications to resolve this issue in a way that can satisfy both parties.

Sincerely,
Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

I again ask Digg to have somebody on the podcast to talk about these issues but they still don’t respond to the idea.

Digg’s Response:

Hello Jeremy,

Sorry we didn’t get back t you sooner. We have unbanned your account. Please note, however, that your account will remain under review, and any violation of Digg’s Terms of Service may result in a permanent ban of your account.

For more information, please see http://digg.com/faq and http://digg.com/tos.

–Digg Support

Getting unbanned is a partial victory. Since this was the last email they sent to me, I have no idea how long I will will “remain under review.” There are still many other issues that need addressed but at least I can now Digg stories and leave comments (Not that I couldn’t as I do have multiple accounts).

Digg Support,

Thanks for getting back to me. I greatly appreciate being unbanned from my favorite social news website. How long will my account remain under review? All of my points from my previous two emails still stand including my invitation to be on my podcast. Thanks again!

Sincerely,
Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

That is basically everything that has transpired as of this time as it appears they don’t want to email me back or appear on the podcast.  There are still some major issues here, mainly revolving around how Digg interacts with its users.  Banning users with no warning and only giving the error “Invalid Account” is not how to deal with users.  If that wasn’t bad enough, their pathetic attempts to hide behind their “Terms of Service” and “FAQ” is laughable.  Unless there is a huge demand, I will reserve further comment for the next Global Geek News podcast since this is already an extremely long post.  If anybody from Digg reads this, the invitation to be on the podcast is still open but you don’t have much time to respond!  While I am not yet calling for a boycott of digg as I am still a loyal Digg fan, I will say becareful and when you have to deal with Digg, demand a higher level of customer relations than this pathic thing they have now!

Stay tuned for the podcast where I will talk about this in greater detail!

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Greetings Readers!

For those of your who are looking forward to watching the 2008 Olympics but would like to watch the events online at a time that is convenient for you, you might be in luck!  If you are running Vista and have Silverlight, thanks to a partnership with NBC and Wavexpress, you will be able to download olympic events off the internet onto your computer.  If you are feeling left out for not having Vista, don’t be too disappointed as only some Vista users can use the service.

Powered by Wavexpress’ TVTonic Internet video service and client, NBC Olympics on the Go will only work for people that have a Media Center capable Vista PC.  This means you must either be running Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate if you want to use this service.  If you haven’t been excluded from this service yet, there is more that you should know.  The video you download cannot be kept indefinitely and is only certain to last through the games.  Also, you wont be able to watch the video from an event until 12 hours after it takes place.  Finally, if you aren’t sad about this news yet, the service doesn’t allow for portable players.  They are looking into other distribution outlets for putting the Olympics on portable devices, but as of right now, there will be no easy way to put the Olympics on portable devices.

With the sad facts out of the way, its time to look at the impact this will have on the market penetration of Vista and Silverlight.  With the global specticle that the Olympics is, gathering the attention of billions of people, it is no suprise that Silverlight is expecting to see a huge wave of adoption since Bill Gates announced the offical Olympic site will require Microsoft’s flash competitor, Silverlight.  With the website likely to recieve billions of hits, it is understandable that the games will create many millions of new Silverlight users.  While a vast majority of people don’t currently have Silverlight, I believe that will change because of the Olympic games website.  The ease of of install with Silverlight will greatly work in the technology’s favor.  It will take an event like this to make Microsoft’s Silverlight a true competitor with Adobe’s Flash.  I hope that adoption numbers will be announced after the games have concluded as I expect it to create hundreds of millions of new Silverlight users.

Vista on the other hand will likely see a small boost from people who want to download the Olympic events, but not near the adoption rate that Silverlight will see.  Considering the current state of the economy, I dont expect people to rush out and purchase new computers or a new operating system just because they wish to watch more Olympic games coverage.  While I’m sure that some people will see this as the prodding they need to move to Vista, this won’t cause a huge exodus from XP to Vista.  It is wishful thinking on Microsoft’s part and its at least a move in the direction of the mass market adoption of Vista, but this isn’t going to be the thing that will cause people to move to Vista.  Microsoft needs to work on the public perception of Vista before it can ever hope to achieve true success with the operating system.

This is a huge play for Microsoft in its competition with Adobe’s Flash, but not what Microsoft needs to help increase Vista adoption.

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Greetings Readers!

UPDATE!  This is the correct link for Firefox 3 Final release!

It seems that Mozilla is unable to handle all the traffic from Firefox 3 Download Day so I have the direct link to the file for those who want to download Firefox 3 but don’t want to wait all day to access the site.  Here is the link:  Firefox 3.  This is the Windows version!

Here is what I am told is the Mac link:  Firefox 3.  (I dont have a mac so I can’t test to make sure this is the final link.  Leave a comment on if its the right thing or Twitter me if its not.)

Here is what I am told is the Linux link:  Firefox 3.  (I dont have a linux box right now so I can’t test to make sure this is the final link.  Leave a comment on if its the right thing or Twitter me if its not.)

I will have a blog post about my first impressions up in the next day or so.

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Greetings Readers!

This only comes as a shock to people living under a rock, but according to Cisco, internet traffic is going to increase! Their estimates show that by the year 2012, global internet traffic will reach half a zetabyte! For those who aren’t geeky enough to know your bytes, a zetabyte is 1 trillion gigabytes, or around 250 billion dvds worth of data.  That is a lot of data!

I will give you one guess why the traffic is going to be increasing by 46% annually.  If you guessed anything other than video, you clearly don’t check out enough blogs and podcasts.  Internet video traffic increased from 12% of global internet traffic in 2006 to 22% in 2007.  They predict that it will account for 90% of global internet traffic by 2012.  IPTV is included in that figure as well as video transfered via Peer-2-Peer networks.  The only other interesting figure in this prediction is that mobile traffic will double every year between 2008 and 2012.

None of these figures should come as a surprise to anybody.  With the popularity of viral video sites and streaming video sites growing in leaps and bounds, it doesn’t take much of an imagination to see that video traffic will account for 90% of internet data in 2012.  This news is floating around the internet, even hitting the front page of Digg like this is shocking information when its not a difficult prediction to make.  A zetabyte is a new word for many people but that doesn’t change the story any.  While this might be worth a small mention, there are more newsworthy things than an obvious story like this.

The only part of the prediction that I take issue with is the mobile data figure.  This figure is entirely dependent on mobile carriers.  What mobile carriers charge for data services and the availability of mobile data services are the determining factors here.  If carriers increase charges or don’t continue to expand their networks, this figure will never be reached.  Adoption of devices like the iPhone will help realize this figure but it still ultimately depends on the carriers.  Time will tell if this figure turns out to be accurate, but I’m not betting on it.

With predictions like this, it is worth asking, how with ISPs cope with this increase in traffic?  If we are having issues with companies like Comcast and their network management practices now, what will they be like in 2012 when a half a zetabyte is crossing the tubes every year?  This is a discussion for another post or podcast, but I will leave you to ponder that question.

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Greetings readers,

In another story of consumers getting screwed, which seems to be a theme on this blog, Verizon has decided to block access to the entire alt.* USENET directory because they are too lazy to enforce their own service agreements.  Reading that link will get you up to speed with all the details, but the short version is that Verizon has decided to block the entire alt.* USENET directory after the Attorney  General in New York threatened charges for not enforcing their own policies to take down child porn.  Instead of blocking the 88 out of over 100,000 offending groups, they decided to just block access to all of them despite whether their contents are legitimate or not.

While I support the efforts to eliminate child pornography, which will never happen by the way, I am suprised at Verizon’s actions to shut down thousands of legitimate USENET discussion groups.  This is essentially the kind of overreaction that the recording industry has been lobbying for to get ISPs to shut down Peer-2-Peer networks to squash it’s piracy problems.  With such an overboard reaction that Verizon has taken, what will they do when somebody points out to them that child porn circulates on bittorrent and every other P2P service on the internet?  Will they kill all P2P access?

Customers need to stand up to Verizon and fight for the legitimate purposes of services such as USENET.  This is just another part of the Net Neutrality issue.  Verizon needs to learn from the mistakes of others and not throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Taking extreme measures to handle a small problem is never a productive solution.

Despite having considered using it in the past, I have never used USENET before, but I will be reconsidering my desire to switch from Comcast to Verizon Fios now that I know they lack the common sense of a good ISP.

It is time that consumers stand up for their beliefs in how the internet should be used and fight back against such reckless actions taken by ISPs such as Verizon.

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Greetings readers!

As I’m sure many of you tech blog lovers have heard, Time Warner Cable is starting a test of metered bandwidth this week in Beaumont, Texas.  At the low end, users will pay $29.95 per month for service at a speed of 768 kilobits per second, with a 5GB monthly cap. At the high end, users will pay $54.90 per month for service at 15 megabits per second, with a 40GB cap.  For every GB used above these limits, the customer will be charged $1.  Before I tear this story apart, here are the rest of the details:  Time Warner Cable has 90,000 customers in the trial area, but the test pricing structure will affect only new subscribers. The gigabyte surcharges go into effect after the first two months of service.

Now that the very ugly details are out of the way, its time I rant about this idea which is one of the worst ones I have heard since I have been using the internet.

Considering the time of streaming video, VoIP, P2P, podcasts and other bandwidth intensive processes that we are in, there is becoming a strain on some providers to allow these services while still providing a decent experience for all its customers.  While I sympathize with this idea to an extent (I know there is a ton of dark fiber out there!), I believe this is the opposite of the ideal solution for this problem.

While I don’t like Comcast’s proposed limit of 250GB/mo, It is a far more reasonable limit than  5GB or 40GB per month.  If you are like many people and watch many shows online from services like Hulu or download high definition shows from Xbox Live, it doesn’t take but a matter of minutes to use up a single GB of bandwidth.  Depending on the speed of your connection, it is easy to have over a GB of data is less than an hour.  If you downloaded large files on a regular basis, this adds up very quickly.  I have been known to download over 25GB in a single day!  If I was on Time Warner Cable and did this, I would be paying hundreds of dollars a month for my internet connection.  This is rediculous!

While I will admit to being a heavy internet user, setting such a low limit can be very problematic for even  the most casual of users.  For people that like to send vacation pictures or funny videos over the email, it wont be difficult to bump up against this limit.  Any sort of medium to large size files will put people up against this limit very easily.  If you download any kinds of podcasts or anything that has large files on a regular basis, this could get very expensive easily.  I typically download several GB worth of podcasts a day.

This could be the fastest possible way for Time Warner Cable to lose customers.  The service is far too expensive for such a little limit when you compare it to other providers such as Comcast or Verizon.  When customers see their bills that will likely end up being hundreds of dollars, they will likely become enraged and have the service disconnected immediately.  I know I would!  Considering the current state of the economy, the last thing we need is for the cost of one of life’s most essential services to skyrocket.

While for now this only affects new customers, this will change and I guarantee lead to a massive exodus of Time Warner Cable customers to other services such as Comcast or Verizon.

I firmly believe this is the worst possible idea that Time Warner Cable could have come up with and not only could they end up self destructing because of it, but it could potentially cause substantial damage to the already ailing economy.

If Time Warner Cable wishes to shoot themselves in the foot, I wish them all the luck in the world and hope this causes them to bleed to death.  There is no room in the internet provider market for such stupidity and I believe that unless they throw this idea out the window, they will cease to exist in the coming years as they will have priced themselves out of business.

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

While this isn’t the first time I have run into this issue, my recent posts about Twitter Etiquette has helped me realize the importance of constructive commenting.

Comments like “First!”, “Bite me”, “You suck”, as well as other mindless garbage should not be posted in a blog or social news websites comments. These comments have nothing to do with the posting and are not only rude, but do nothing to further the conversation. If you are going to waste your time on the internet do something other than waste peoples space and bandwidth.

I’m not saying you have to agree with everything somebody posts, but if you have an opposing view, state it and the thought process behind it. Saying something like “You are wrong” does nothing to further the conversation. Offer constructive criticism! The internet is about the free sharing of ideas, not the flaming of other people simply because you do not understand or believe in what they say. Here are a few tips for leaving constructive comments.

1. Ask the author to clarify what he says. If you are unsure of what the post author is trying to say or can’t see how they made the leap from observation to conclusion, ask them to explain it better. Just because you don’t understand somebody’s point, does not mean its not a valid point. Feel free to ask as many questions as is needed so that you can understand the issue and be able to provide some constructive thought about the topic.
2. If you are an expert on the topic, speak up! If you happen to be an expert on a particular topic and believe that the author or other commenter’s don’t understand what they are talking about or have some details wrong, jump in and share your knowledge. Don’t simply say “These people are idiots” and continue on your way. Help inform them so they can speak intelligently about the topic in the future. Doing this will not only impress the readers with your knowledge, but it will spur a more informed conversation.
3. Post links to related content. If you know a great source of more information on the topic, feel free to post the link. Anybody concerned with the post will be very happy to learn more about the topic. Often blogs aren’t long enough to go in great detail of a topic, so posting links that will give other readers more detail is often greatly appreciated as it saves people the time they would use to search for more information on the topic.
4. Post polite comments. The old adage of if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it at all, can easily apply to blog or social news posts. While I am not saying you should not speak negatively about the post if it warrants it, it is not necessary to flame the user with obscenities and directions to where he can go. Keep in mind that when you say something on the internet, it won’t go away and can easily come back to haunt you in the future. What you say and how you say it affects your reliability and reputation. While a post like “Nice job” isn’t the most constructive post, it is at least more respectable than “You suck”.
5. Offer alternative ideas. Many topics are not black and white and won’t have a single answer of solution. If you or somebody you know has an alternative idea, share it! Progress is achieved through the concept of idea sharing, not keeping your opinion to yourself. Sometimes an alternate idea is better than the original idea, so share your thoughts on the subject.
6. Suggest improvements. If somebody is posting about some kind of project they have in the works, suggest improvements for any areas you see that could be improved upon. Similar to the alternative ideas point, if you have an idea that could be more efficient than they way they are currently doing something, suggest it! If they don’t want to listen to you, that is their choice, but at least suggest improvements. Often you will be thanked for your input.
7. Be original!  While you may agree with other commenter’s viewpoints, don’t just repeat what they have said.  Thinking for yourself and having your own, unique opinion is embraced on the internet.  Expand on what others have said or state why you don’t subscribe to their entire thought.  It is not necessary to be correct, just original.

Following these guidelines will help you become a valued commenter on any blog or social news outlet.  Remember, on the internet knowledge is valued and trolls are despised.  Most importantly, respect the opinions of others if you want others to respect yours.

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray