TPN’s Digital Photography Show is #32 baby!
Scott and Michael have another reason to be proud. The Digital Photography Show just hit the number #32 spot in the US iTunes directory! Well done guys!
Testing Telstra Bigpond’s NextG vs 3 Mobile Broadband
Although I’ve been impressed with Telstra’s NextG card (the 7.2 Mobile Card Sierra AirCard 880E), including spending my lunch in a cafe today watching Henry Rollins interview Michael Chiklis on YouTube, running it full screen, it doesn’t seem to always work that well.
The NextG service is called “7.2” which you might think (as I did) means that it runs at 7.2 mbps but apparently not for the BigPond site states:
BigPond Wireless Broadband now covers a massive 98% of the population, making it Australia’s largest wireless network. It’s also faster, with average speeds of 550kbps to 1.5Mbps, and a peak network downlink speed of 3.6Mbps.
Maybe 7.2 is the version number?
As I started to write this post, I decided to test it using a broadband speed test while I sit in the Powell Hotel in Footscray, Melbourne (here’s a link to a map to see how far I am from Melbourne’s CBD) in case you think I’m sitting near Uluru.
Here are the results of the first test:
Telstra Test One
Test run on 12/11/2007 @ 05:39 PM
Mirror: Telstra Bigpond
Data: 600 KB
Test Time: 48.4 secs
Your line speed is 101 kbps (0.1 Mbps).
Your download speed is 13 KB/s (0.01 MB/s).
OUCH!
A quick look at the network monitor shows that the card’s signal isn’t great. See image below for a screenshot.
So I ran a second test and it just got worse:
Telstra Test Two
Test run on 12/11/2007 @ 05:51 PM
Mirror: Telstra Bigpond
Data: 3 MB
Test Time: 339.42 secs
Your line speed is 72 kbps (0.07 Mbps).
Your download speed is 9 KB/s (0.01 MB/s).
Hmmm… getting worse. My third and final test for today was slightly better:
Telstra Test Three
Test run on 12/11/2007 @ 06:00 PM
Mirror: Telstra Bigpond
Data: 3 MB
Test Time: 71.87 secs
Your line speed is 341 kbps (0.34 Mbps).
Your download speed is 43 KB/s (0.04 MB/s).
For a comparison, I plugged in my NetConnect card from Three and got these results:
Three Test One
Test run on 12/11/2007 @ 06:05 PM
Mirror: OptusNet
Data: 600 KB
Test Time: 5.68 secs
Your line speed is 860 kbps (0.86 Mbps).
Your download speed is 107 KB/s (0.1 MB/s).
Three Test Two
Test run on 12/11/2007 @ 06:06 PM
Mirror: OptusNet
Data: 3 MB
Test Time: 14.96 secs
Your line speed is 1.64 Mbps (1637 kbps).
Your download speed is 205 KB/s (0.2 MB/s).
Whilst I’m not going to give up on the Telstra NextG card just yet, this afternoon’s tests haven’t been positive.
The NextG card is available for $349 plus $114.95 per month for 1Gb data (see all pricing plans here).
Three’s NetConnect card is free on a 24 month plan and costs $29 per month for 1Gb data (see full pricing plans here).
UPDATE:
I’m sitting this morning at 35 Collins Street, downstairs from the Telstra offices, and the speed is much more acceptable, although still only a third of the speed I was getting on Three last night:
Test run on 13/11/2007 @ 09:48 AM
Mirror: Telstra Bigpond
Data: 600 KB
Test Time: 7.2 secs
Your line speed is 679 kbps (0.68 Mbps).
Your download speed is 85 KB/s (0.08 MB/s).
Why doesn’t my Macbook wake up?
Here’s another Macbook support question.
Sometimes when I open up my Macbook, it doesn’t come out of “sleep” mode. I try closing the lid and opening it again a few times but that doesn’t seem to help. I always end up shutting it completely down with my finger on the power button until it re-boots but I’d rather not do that for a number of reasons.
Have any of your Mac fanboyz/grlz experienced this before? What’s the story?
A question about Ebay etiquette
I met some people at MODM recently who told me they had never – EVER!! – bought anything via Ebay. WTF? Who are you people? Even Nicole, who is currently cutting my hair, has bought something from Ebay (although she said it wasn’t very successful – it wasn’t what she thought it would be like… she assures me it wasn’t a sex toy. It was a dress.).
Anyway… a couple of weeks ago I bought a remote control for my old XBOX from someone in Hong Kong. It turned up okay but doesn’t work very well. I mean, it works if I’m no further away than a meter or two from the box – but if I’m lying in bed (the old XBOX is the bedroom media center) it’s a pain in the ass.
So I gave the seller a neutral review on Ebay – not negative, because she shipped it quickly and it was as described… it just doesn’t work very well. The next day, I got an email from the seller saying she was very sorry that I wasn’t happy with the item and asking me if I would reconsider my review if she gave me a $5 refund. I asked the folks on Twitter what I should do, and the unanimous response was that I should leave my review as it is and that the seller was trying to buy a positive review.
So I ignored the first email. Then, yesterday, I got a message from Paypal saying I had received a full refund on the product from the seller! Now I’m feeling torn. On one hand, the product isn’t very well made – but that isn’t the seller’s fault. She has been very responsive to my review and has, of her own volition, given me a full refund and not even asked for the product back. To be fair, I didn’t complain about the quality of the product when I received it and, if I had, she might have been willing to give me the refund and under those circumstances I probably WOULD have given her a positive review. When we buy something off of Ebay (or anywhere else for that matter), isn’t that all we ask for? Good service? Obviously we hope the product will always be first class but, when it isn’t, we just want good service?
So I’m torn. I don’t want to have my review “bought” but, on the other hand, i want to be fair to a seller who is trying hard to do the right thing. Or is she?
perfectly targeted advertising is just information
“Advertising will get more and more targeted until it disappears, because perfectly targeted advertising is just information. And that’s good!” (says Dave Winer via Doc Searls).
I have believed that for a long time. I am time poor. There are products and services out there which can improve my quality of life. I want to know about them. Someone needs to tell me about them. That’s advertising. If the communication about those products and services is relevant to my interests and respectful of my time and intelligence, it’s a good thing, not an imposition.
Speaking of Doc, he points to Rageboy’s impending birthday and a photo of a recent Cluetrain reunion. What an impact these gents have had on how we think about advertising, the net, marketing, etc. How many times a day do you think someone in the world says “Markets are conversations”?
My Second Life podcast with Mark Jones is up
Late last week I was invited onto Mark Jones’ “The Scoop” podcast to talk about Second Life with The Markster himself, as well as Lisa Romano, Project Manager, Strategic Development, ABC INNOVATION, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Gary Hayes, head of MUVE development, The Project Factory.
It was an enjoyable chat and I hope you enjoy it. Listen here.