Technical Tidbits™

I’m sure many of you have been wondering what that title means. Well, we need to prepare for the funeral. Web 2.0 will be dying soon.

Prepare to go back to the old web. Prepare to view lousy rendered graphics, and forget about YouTube. It will also be history soon. And web advertising? Forget about even thinking about it. Everyone will be disabling ads in their browsers.

So why am I the bearer of gloom and doom? Why am I predicting the impending demise of the new multimedia rich Web 2.0?

Because CA cometh. And not Computer Associates, but Corporate America. The money hungry, keep the shareholders happy with their dividends corporate mongers. The Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

In a recent post to WebProBusiness, Mike Moran discussed the announcement of Comcast to cap bandwidth use and cited other ISPs who are doing the same.

I had already heard from Comcast – personally – along those lines (subject for another post) which gave me the indication that they were leaning toward the route of monitoring and cutting off bandwidth to excessive users.  So their announcement that they are capping download and upload bandwidth traffic at 250 GB’s didn’t surprise me and I find it very generous in light of other ISPs experimenting with this concept.

Time/Warner has already been experimenting in Texas with new subscirbers. According to an article on arstechnica.com:

The caps differ depending on the tier of service paid for by the consumer. The lowest level of service is a 768Kbps connection with a 5GB cap for $29.95 per month. The high-end package will offer 15MBps with a 40GB cap for $54.90 per month. Consumers will pay by the gigabyte for consumption in excess of the established caps. Customers will be able to see how much bandwidth they have left by visiting the Time Warner Cable web site. Source: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080603-40gb-for-55-per-month-time-warner-bandwidth-caps-arrive.html

In still another article, AT&T is discussing the same type of usage cap and fees for its DSL customers.

But all of this is very disturbing news.

We’ve all grown used to the Internet being free, so to speak. By that I mean, we’ve never had to worry about the new multi-media rich Web 2.0 content and how it affected our browsing. We paid a fee to get access and forgot about it.

We’ve never had to count the number of megabytes in an e-mail video our cousin sent us, nor had to add the kilobytes together for all the spam garbage we are forced to download in our e-mail programs like Outlook or Outlook Express. And what about all those family pictures that are sent directly from digital camera’s at high resolution? We’ll have to start watching that now too!

The profit driven corporate thugs tell us that the average person uses only 2-3 GB per month. Well, that explains why no one is patched and updated with their browsers and software! The Microsoft SP3 (NOT recommended by the way) is 316.4 MB which is nearly 1/3 of the first GB! So this average tells me there’s a hellofalot of people not downloading their updates! (No wonder hackers and malware writers are having a field day!)

The other thing that I find amusing is that these ISPs (like Time/Warner) think that $54.90 is reasonable for their 40 GB cap! But then again, since so many people are defaulting on their sub-prime loans, I guess these moron’s figure they can now afford it.

You know, to me, this is comparable to drug peddling. Let’s get the folks addicted to this new way of accessing information. Let’s get the companies to spend millions in the new Web 2.0 multimedia and advertising campaigns. Then, when they are truly hooked, let’s take it away or make them pay!

Why is my nose out of joint and my panties in a bundle over this one? (I think I’m unfortunately going to be saddled with this phrase from now on!) All of the smaller webmaster’s or design houses like MICE who upload files for clients are going to suffer with this cap. Yes, I watch a few movies here and there on YouTube. And even started publishing some instructional videos here and on YouTube. But now I’m going to have to pass on the increased charges to my clients. We’re not a BIG time web house that can charge $15,000 for a website. That’s not our client base. But by the same token, we can’t afford to absorb the cost of this increase either when our prices are already extremely low.

This reminds me of Reagan Trickle Down Economics and it’s not good for anyone except the ISPs and their stockholders. And this could mean the death of Web 2.0.

Do you think anyone is going to allow advertisers to download cookies and banner ads to their computer if it’s consuming bandwidth? NO. And something will have to be done about SPAM because I’m not going to use my precious bandwidth to download that crap! And forget about viral videos that have been used to promote companies and products. Say Good-bye! And God forbid you should upload a podcast to CurrentTV! YIKES! (Which of course also includes cutting out podcasting overall and no more iTunes movies or pods. No more watching television episodes you missed, and so so on!)

But here’s a money maker for Linksys and other router providers, we’ll need built-in bandwidth monitors now! As Microsoft says, “First one to market wins!”

As for me personally, I have a few beefs with Comcast already before this issue. But for now, they’re the most liberal in town so I have to stay here at least until some genius ISP discovers that providing unlimited access at a reasonable price would be a great way to steal the local market. (HINT!)

I remember a day where there used to be price wars and competition. Now, it seems like watching the competition is seeing how much your competitor is getting away with gouging the consumer and then adjusting your prices accordingly higher. Never mind cutting consumers some slack.

Yes, I can hear it now in offices every where…..

“Hey Joe! MICE says we can raise our web design rates due to the high cost of bandwidth!”

“Mack! You’re a genius! I would’ve never thought of that! Let’s do it!”

And some day in the near future Fox Business or CNN will be saying this…..

“The tech industry has exceeded all analyst expectations for their earnings this quarter and are attributing it to the ever rising cost of bandwidth.”

Or will we read some day in the far future that the once popular Internet has become a fading piece of history because consumers cut spending on Internet access due to inflation and the failing economy in 2008 and 2009?

Only time will tell the true story. But remember what I said about this. Bookmark it. I’m very rarely wrong in my predictions about these things!

Microsoft has issued an advisory early this morning warning of a possible blended threat that can affect Windows XP and Vista computers when Apple’s Safari is installed!

According to the advisory, Microsoft is investigating public reports of a blended threat that allows remote code execution on all supported versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista when Apple’s Safari for Windows has been installed. Microsoft reports that they are working with Apple to confirm these public reports and to establish an action plan for patching if the reports are proven true.

Microsoft recommends that you restrict use of Safari as a web browser until an appropriate update is available from Microsoft and/or Apple.

The Safari installation on Windows issue also relates to our blog entry: http://mice.org/blog/the-apple-updates-safari-great-debate/

That discusses how you might have installed Safari with an iTunes or QuickTime update.

The full Advisory is located here:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/953818.mspx

We’ve alerted our Alert subscribers and will be following this issue to resolution.

If you wish to subscribe to our Alerts Newsletters to be informed of up-to-the-minute security issues that may affect you as they happen, please visit our subscribe page located here:

http://mice.org/lists/subscribe.html

We get all early warnings from a variety (and number) of sources so we compile them into one alert for you! It saves inbox space!

There seems to be some big “hissy fit” going on about Apple trying to push the new safari browser through your Apple Update Software. So, I decided to take some time today to check it out myself and ran the Apple Update.

And yes, there it is!

Now, first of all, let’s point out the obvious. See the check box next to Safari? If you uncheck it, Safari won’t install! We all know how to read, don’t we?

Secondly, I’ve read some BS out there about how Apple is trying to sneak this in on you. Are nuts? Where is this sneaking anything?

Some have also compared this to Microsoft’s sneaky attempts to give you junk you don’t want nor need. NO WAY! You cannot even compare the two!

Microsoft has snuck into our PCs and given us stealth updates – which Apple does not do. Additionally, Microsoft’s auto update encourages the EXPRESS installation which is a blanket install of anything they want to shove on you. You cannot compare the Apple Update Software to any of Microsoft’s antics! Get real!

Okay, that being said, I went ahead and installed the Safari browser just for fun. I must say I’m impressed and really thinking about moving from my ever slowing, sluggish Firefox to the new Safari. I really, really, really, love the bookmark organization in there! (But I’ll save that for a later review.)

But for now, let me say to those who are crying “FOUL” over the Apple Updates including Safari, if you can’t read or don’t pay attention to what the heck you’re downloading, then don’t blame Apple!

I have some issues with the elitest attitude of Apple users, so don’t think I’m a die hard Apple/MAC lover. The BS that MAC’s don’t get viruses and that they don’t crash, they have “Forced System Resets” that is touted by their sales staff makes me want to gag. But there is no way you can compare their update OFFERING you Safari as a download option to Microsoft’s SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR THROAT software installations.

If you’re too busy to read the screen when you download something, don’t blame Apple for your lack of attention. And if you have any software update set to “auto install” you need counseling. No one should ever allow a software manufacturer (or anyone for that matter) “cart blanc” to their PC! You have no right to cry “Foul” if you’ve allowed that.

This big “to-do” is just another bunch of cry babies not taking personal responsibility for their actions – or in this case, downloads. Or, is it just a way to call attention to yourself and your website? Hmm, maybe that what’s really behind this? Did I hear someone say, “Free traffic?”