Bell pwns ISPs

Last week Bell started to throttle all traffic on their network, including wholesale traffic sold to independent ISPs. This means TekSavvy is screwed. I used to think there were laws that prevented this from happening, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Having open networks encourages competition, which is good for the consumer. It also encourages faster adoption of technology, and in Ontario's case, I think it's worked quite well. I don't have any numbers to back up this claim, but I think Southern Ontario is very highly connected, because of availability and price. Even talking to my sister, who says very few people in NYC have personal connections, even though it is widely available there becauce of the population density. She says most people use text messaging, instead of IM, because of convenience and price, whereas it is opposite here.

Now I can only hope for the CRTC to change the rules, and that will take a long time and might not happen because of government lobbying. Honestly, I think Bell can create a market for this, because there is demand. I wonder if they considered charging even more for bandwidth during peak times. This would be sold through 3rd party ISPs who could provide it to customers who desired this. The pricing would have to be high enough so that Bell would have enough money so that they could reinvest this money into their networks to grow it and handle the extra demand. And for me personally, I don't mind paying higher prices for unrestricted bandwidth. I'm not even against paying higher prices for broadband to compensate artists, much like how blank CD's are taxed.

Anyway, I also wanted to comment on how much I like Ars Technica. Pandemic recommended it to me, way back, when it was a much smaller site, so props to him. In the mean time, Ars must have gotten funding from somewhere, because now the site is vastly improved. Better, because the quality of writing has remained high while adding breadth in coverage and intelligent analysis. They don't just report the news, but also provide analysis, which makes them the undisputed first place to get my tech news. Recently, I've grown to dislike Slashdot more, because of the increasingly lower signal to noise ratio, the lack of quality analysis and the heavy bias.

In conclusion, I want network neutrality and if that ever happens, I'll hear about it from Ars Technica first.

Geek Cred

I'm lacking in this important department. Street Cred is something rappers want, Geek cred is something I want.

I haven't upgraded my computer in 5 years. I have an Athlon XP 1800 (1.5 GHz) with 512 MB RAM. Video cards now have this amount of memory. I just bought a new keyboard after using my previous one for 8 years. It was dirty (<-- understatement). My monitor is not even widescreen. I don't even bother with new computer games anymore because I know I can't run them.

My current dilemma is whether to buy a desktop or laptop. I've decided to get a laptop first to help with my constant moving around and then when Starcraft II comes out, to get a new desktop.

But here's where the geek cred comes in. I'm going to get a Mac laptop. Probably not a Macbook Air, as it's crippled is a few ways, even though it's undeniably sexy. I'm probably looking at the low end Macbook Pro. I have to experience the UI everyone keeps raving about. I have to play with Unix. I have to feel the sleek form factor. I have to see what a big difference integrated hardware/software can make. I have to virtualize ftw!!!

The bad thing about Apple is the insane pricing. Because there is such a big difference, I'll probably get my sister to buy it in the States with her Education discount (She's a teacher in the USA). That will result in a savings of $500-$550. I can't believe it's such a big difference and it only increases with the pricer models. Even with that discount, it's still going to be pricey, especially when compared to a PC. Now if I could only convince my family to become exclusive Mac users...