Feeling diabolical? But your the good guy? Your ISP won't think so.

http://www.measurementlab.net/measurement-lab-tools

MLAB is attempting to provide users with the tools to test their broadband connections by briefly communicating with a server elsewhere on the Internet.

I could have a lab like Dexter if it wasn't for the high cost of maintenance and power. Besides I don't have a basement.


Ping testing doesn't really tell you that much about your connection. You get your response time and whether your packets made it or not. The ISP world treats ICMP packets (PING) with very low priority. Also routers do more than route these days. High speed routers forward packets in hardware with very little processing required allowing them to handle more data faster.

Your packets are queued, buffered, and prioritized based on many factors. In many ways its like a first class ticket on a plane. The more you pay the better your treated. But imagine if the plane was loosing fuel and they needed to loose weight or they will crash. Imagine if they decided to throw third class passengers out the door.

The plane analogy doesn't describe the Internet very well. Its more like a highway with a HOV lane for the rich, When traffic is flowing good everyone is treated the same. When traffic is congested the HOV cars get through. The reason I like the plane analogy because in the HOV analogy all cars make it to the destination. In reality on the Internet your packets get tossed out to prevent the situation from getting worse for everyone.

Now you have the tools to see if your being treated like a customer or a criminal.

Network Diagnostic Tool
Test your connection speed and receive sophisticated diagnosis of problems limiting speed.
Glasnost
Test whether BitTorrent is being blocked or throttled.
Network Path and Application Diagnosis
Diagnose common problems that impact last-mile broadband networks.
DiffProbe (coming soon)
Determine whether an ISP is giving some traffic a lower priority than other traffic.
NANO (coming soon)
Determine whether an ISP is degrading the performance of a certain subset of users, applications, or destinations.


The PlanetLab Consortium joins Google and the Open Technology Institute in creating Measurement Lab (M-Lab), a distributed server platform for deploying Internet measurement tools. M-Lab is designed to empower the public with useful information about their broadband connections.

Don't let the ISPs run away with your re-concatenator/assembler high speed compression port adaptor.

What is in a number?

Free Voicemail and Web Based Fax

http://www.k7.net/

K7 offers users of the service a free phone in the 206 area code through which they can receive faxes and voicemails. Any faxes/voicemails received on the number are forwarded as email attachments or can be accessed via their website.

So, how can they afford to provide this service? Well, because of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, CLECs get paid by other providers for the termination (answering) of a phone call. Thus, every time you pickup the phone, your phone company gets a small amount of money from the carrier that originated a call. Normally, carriers are constantly making calls that terminate at other carriers and vice versa. But, K7 is a service that only receives calls and does not generate calls to other carriers, so all those termination fees, which would usually flow both ways end up flowing only into K7’s bank account and not out! This one way flow of money was distressing enough to most carriers that they protested strongly and got the law rewritten somewhat, but there is a grandfather clause for companies like K7 that were already in operation.

Anyways, sign up for an account (a very simple process that won't require you to divulge any personally identifiable information)

206-203-1661

Better way to surf

http://www.ixquick.com/

Ixquick Protects Your Privacy !
The only search engine that deletes your personal data. - I'm not sure this is true. I heard ASK.com is doing the same but I can't find a "seal of approval" telling me its true.

Your privacy is under attack ! - no doubt about it. Google is the worst offender and getting worse each day.

Every time you use a regular search engine, your search data is recorded.Your search terms, the time of your visit, the links you choose, your IP address and your User ID cookies all get stored in a database.The identity profiles that can be constructed from this cloud of information represent modern day gold for marketers.But government officials, hackers and even criminals also have an interest in getting their hands on your personal search data. And sooner or later they will... - this is really true, this info will be used in so many ways of which none you will like.

What could happen ?

Consider the following story:In August 2006, the online world was jarred by the AOL privacy scandal:AOL released three months' worth of aggregated search data from 650,000 of its users, publishing all the details in an online database. This database is still search able. It is an absolute.

Google may be or already took up a contract with the NSA to operate a data center on the google campus. This really isn't important except if you wish to protect your rights to privacy and truly have freedom. Freedom is about your God given right to express yourself in any way you want without hurting other people. Religion is a great example and in societies like China you do not have this kind of freedom to believe.

The problem here is that Google may even want to protect your information but when they say its a matter of National security and you are now locked out of your building, they won't need a reason why and will never have to answer for it in the future. Nobody will even know what was compromised.

I'm seeing things a bit more clear

I introduced DeadPixelBuddy some time ago for testing that flat screen monitor and looking for lighting defects as well as dead pixels. Onile monitor test seems to go a few step further allowing you not only to look for defect but to make adjustments to get the best quality picture.

I saw a few more benchmarking and testing sites when watching DL.TV

http://tft.vanity.dk/

Here is what they say about the different programs offered at their site:

The monitor test can be run directly in 3 different modes:- Ordinary HTML window (maximize with F11)- Full screen HTML (opens in 1280x1024 but can be resized to fit any resolution)- Executable fullscreen program for any resolution (no installation required) To download a zipped version of the excutable use this link

The input lag test can be used to test for input lag if you have 2 monitors connected. You will need a camera to record the counter. The procedure is as follows:
- Set your two monitors in clone mode- Run either the program or open the html document- Start the timer- Take a picture with your camera with both monitors i focus- If the input response is different on the two monitors, the number on each screen will be different

Another interesting product is a test DVD you can bring with you to the store before you throw down that suit case full of cash in exchange for that high tech wonder you will spend more time with than your wife. Since you don't have time to date that 60inch LCD before you buy it you might want to spend some quality time before you take it home. Look at it like picking up a puppy from the pound.

http://www.tvblink.com/i_dvd.html

As smooth as ICE and even cooler

Glide OS 3.0 - The future of portable desktop computing
http://www.glideos.com




Free 10gig storage, file synchronization, file sharing, and a powerful virtual desktop in one web based application.

This is so good its almost scary. There is no install required. There is a small install required for advanced upload and synchronization features which is to be expected.
http://www.glideos.com/downloads.html

The idea here is your desktop goes with you on the go or at home. This will be an addition to my desktop where I can access my files from anywhere. Where I can backup my files from anywhere. 10gig is free. At $4.95 for each 20gig above that and a system to upload files in a way that makes sense and the ability to share with friends or family, this is a fantastic value.

Game crashing on atioglxx.dll

I have been seeing all kinds of posts with crazy solutions to ATI driver crash issues and blue screen problems impacting a particular ATI .dll file.

ati2dvag.dll infinite loop problem for example.

Of course look to see that you have the latest drivers. This doesn't always work however and removing and re-installing is worth trying but likely won't work either. The method I suggest is to replace the offending file with either the latest version of that file or a older version. The re-install doesn't hit that file because it is locked by Windows and is being used. If you boot in safe mode you usually can't get the setup for the driver to work. So boot up in safe mode and follow my procedure.




This is a OPENGL problem and the new opengl doesn't seem to work in many games on Vista.

The fix is easy:

Goto C:\ATI
then to the 8_7 files
search for CMD
then

cd C:\ATI\SUPPORT\8-7_vista32_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_65998\Packages\Drivers\Display\LH_INF\B_66369

(this just happens to be the location of this file for this example
on a XP machine I found the file ati2dvag.dl_
C:\ATI\SUPPORT\8-6_xp32_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_64783\Driver\XP_INF\B_64997)

expand atioglxx.dl_ atioglxx.dll

and copy the new atioglxx.dll to c:\windows\system32

replace your newer file

You don't have to be the brain to manage partitions for free.

EASEUS Partition Manager Home Edition FREE
http://www.easeus.com/




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