Tag: bandwidth

New Speed Test Service

Post ImageAnother tool gets Web 2.0-ified (well sort of, it’s just Flash, though it is marked beta). No longer are speed tests boring! Thanks to Speedtest.net, you get an interactive map and speedometer-like gauges to see how fast your Internet connection is. From Blog Esoterica:

The site allows you to select servers to ping from around the country on an interactive map and graphically displays connections as they travel with varying speeds along the way. It also lets you store results of tests for your computer and sort them by date, time, speed and distance.

I tried it out, and it seems pretty good. I wish there was something more to the service though. Basically it’s just a flash interface on the same speed tests that have been available for the better part of a decade. That said, if you like fancy graphics, Speedtest.net might be just what you’re looking for!

Read: Speedtest.net

Wake up Microsoft – get BitTorrent!

Post ImageEven though Microsoft has lots of money, sometimes there are better ways to solve problems than just throwing cash at them. It seems Microsoft is bent on only delivering software from their own servers, when really, they could be using BitTorrent. It would keep them from making stupid decisions like this:

Microsoft plans next week to charge a nominal fee for Office 2007 Beta 2 downloads, in a move that runs counter to the practice held by most software companies.

Consumers who download the 2007 Microsoft Office system Beta 2 will be charged $1.50 per download, beginning next Wednesday at 6 p.m. PDT, a Microsoft spokeswoman said.

Wake up and smell the coffee! BitTorrent, or even services like RedSwoosh (if Microsoft felt better about paying something for the service) would eliminate these problems. And as a downloader, I’d prefer them anyway, because I can download faster in most cases.

Please don’t pay the $1.50 to download the beta – it’ll only encourage this ridiculous behaviour!

Read: CNET News.com