Time Warner bandwidth caps in Texas and NY
In this age of ubiquitous Internet access, not to mention the plethora of content that has been migrated from more traditional delivery media, to online repositories (read Hulu, CBS, etc), it is preposterous to even conceive, much less bring into regulation, that which is anathema for all dedicated, educated web users, namely Bandwidth Caps.
I have watched in alarm as Time Warner, Frontier, Comcast – the “premier” ISPs in this region have started this new exercise of enforcing (at various stages of implementation) bandwidth caps – limitations on how much a user may download – across markets in Texas and Rochester, NY. This does not affect me directly at present, as where I live, these caps are yet to be implemented and it stands to reason that since this area is a “highly-competitive” region, caps will probably not be implemented anytime soon. However, this is a travesty no matter where it happens.
The companies maintain that without caps, they simply can’t survive and limitations free Internet access is not viable. Hogwash, the amount they plan to charge PER GB is nearly 98 cents/ dollar more than what the cost is to them. It is a case of utter greed, and turning unimaginable profits by bilking consumers which due to the already monopolistic reach of ISPs are starved for choice.
I point to examples from the rest of the world. Sweden, Japan, Netherlands – ultra fast access with none of the limitations hogwash. So this utter nonsense of non-viability, is this restricted to the ISPs in the English speaking world?
Some argue bandwidth caps as those implemented by Comcast are fair and just – and to those arguments I thumb my nose. Any kind of restriction, any kind of caps are anathema to this medium, as we approach the age of DOCSIS 3.0, and Fiber Optic to home. An analogy I read on one of the blogs around the webz, likened the situation to regulating the number of hours one may watch TV.
Suppose for the basic channels one subscribes to, one is told that for $50 a month one may watch 20 hours of cable, and for each additional hour the cable company will charge an extra dollar. I am sure some of the meek ones in the crowd will comply and some might even cut down the amount of time they watch TV to 20 hours a month. Whichever the case may be, the viewer has lost the freedom to choose. No matter if the company allows 20 hours or 50 hours, any kind of cap runs against the grain.
There is hope and there are voices rising in crescendo against these ISP enforced regulations – voices from across the blogosphere, twitterscape and forums that are reaching our representatives. Representatives such as Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY), Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Mayoral candidate Lee Leffingwell, and others are proactive in their condemnation of Time Warner and their proposed bandwidth caps.
An excellent website to keep abreast of developments and network with like-minded users is StopTheCap. Join up and share your ideas, and if you are affected/incensed by this, join in the effort. We need to speak up now as a community.
IMS LD Editor v. 0.01 is now live!!
The first prototype release of my app is now hosted and live! The Learning Design editor a part of my research thesis will be now evaluated by the team of experts hailing from different representative groups across the Dutch educational setup, on the basis of usability and ability to translate their mental models of education on the basis of the model I have implemented. A few screenshots.
PS: Sorry, the evaluation is by invitation only.
Back from Innsbruck!
Indeed I am, and if the pictures on Flickr are any indication, we indeed had an awesome time there. It was quite a volte-face from the last time around, when I had fallen ill, and it had really ruined my time there. But well, nothing of that sort this time (though the same cannot be said of Skippy-boy). Although it was great, I just missed my Rissa ever so much, feeling just at odds, without her by my side, to share the experiences and just enjoy a new place together. It did feel so disquieting. But I did manage to keep her informed, by snapping pictures with my iPhone and uploading them immediately to Flickr via the awesome Pushr.app.
The lectures were all the same, and not too informative, but a few of them shone – in particular that of Scott Wilson’s on the final day. But I guess what I enjoyed most was the socializing aspect – getting to know people, and interact with them.
Well, let’s recap. On Sunday we reached Innsbruck after a long trip (Heerlen – Eindhoven – Rotterdam – Innsbruck – Igls). Immediately upon arriving we (The Namesake, Danish, Skippy Boy and I) set out to explore the wooded regions around the Grillhof. A number of pictures from the 17th stand testament to the time we had. We were joined by a couple of people on this evening – Sebastian and Anna from Wien, and the Scots. Dinner was lackluster and after a round of Stroh’s 60 produced by our very own Butt-slapper (or Martin as he prefers to be called), we called it night.
Monday was where it was at. The bulk of the participants joined in, and there was the usual round of introductions, official and unofficial. A number of lectures on the PCM, etc. After lunch we guys (Marco-Blondie, The Namesake and I) went for a long walk up to the lake which we found quite by chance. The Namesake and I had a grand time, going shutter crazy! The evening was fun – a social event during which I broke my moratorium on Weissbier consumption and consumed around four along with the Namesake. It was fun as the guitar was brought out and everyone tried their hand at strumming and singing, albeit without success. *heh* I am told I am rather rude. It was a grand evening indeed.
Tuesday was a day the Namesake and I had resolved we would try and miss as much as possible. Though we did manage to live up to a part of the deal, it wasn’t all rosy. We both worked and managed to attend a few, as we worked. The fever pitch at the WS-2008 was rising as the next day would be the Winter school key event – Sports activities! Since the Namesake, Danish and I had planned for the sledding event, we stuck to the background, enjoying as the others missed lectures, and dinner. Oh poor souls. The social event to which I was pulled yet again, seemed the same, with cacophonous music and beer. Talked and joked around with Anna, Skippy-boy and the Namesake as we mingled and milled around.
Wednesday and what a day! I almost never have laughed so hard, or have been scared for my life! This of course alludes to the sledding day! The Namesake, I, Danish and Enrique forged a bond of men, as we sledded down the DEEP incline! Of course nothing comes easy and there were mistakes a plenty, one of which had the Namesake hurtling down the mountain his arms flailing, him shouting "oh f*ck" as he hurtled with the help of good ol Newton, on his sled. I doubled and nearly fell down, laughing my ass off. Till now that memory of the Namesake flailing around as he hurtled half-way down the mountain, really makes me laugh my butt off. Well done m8!
Thursday was a slow starter, as many complained of aches and bruises from last evening’s adventures. This was the busiest day so far for me. I met quite a few people involved in research related to my topic, and expressed interest in being part of my project pilot. It was sure quite refreshing to receive affirmation of the work that I have done, and the path I follow, not to mention the depth of my knowledge in my field. Unfortunately, Skippy boy took ill this day, and couldn’t join us for any of these classes/events. I was quite interested in the hands-on 4C/ID demonstration by Iwan Wopreis, however I did give up after the first session when I couldn’t really find a fit with my research goals. We all assembled after classes in Innsbruck city for a night of drinks and farewells, at the Irish Pub. We nearly managed to convince Anna to join the OU *ha ha*.
We started back after a round of goodbyes and last impressions on Friday. Scott Wilson gave a terrific lecture on OpenID, etc. and led me to register on Twitter almost immediately. A group photo at the end, summed up the ‘gezellig’ nature of this event. One we shall almost never forget! A long, winding road brought us back to Heerlen, ever so tired and ever so weary!
PS: To search for pix of the event (other than mine), do search for tags : Winterschool, Winterschool2008 on Flickr.
Questionnaire on…
In lieu of the practitioner meeting that was scheduled to take place yesterday, I have endeavored to create an online questionnaire, which the practitioners and non-expert authors can now go through and fill out. The input shall be instrumental to the incipient stages of the project work, and has been long awaited. It is our hope and sincere wish that practitioners will share some of their design practices, constraints etc with us, and agree to participate in the development of the LAE.
The questionnaire and survey can be found at http://145.20.173.186. It is hosted on my VMWare machine running Debian.
The day was quite busy, I finished an advertisement proposed by YMI and sent it forth to Amine Sir, and hope that it shall be enough to pique the interest of the students at RWTH. For information’s sake here is the advert in PDF.
Just ten days before my beautiful Rissa starts for NL, and things are just getting so exciting! We are just looking forward incredibly to the time we shall spend together for the next three weeks. Though the trips this time might not be exotic, I look forward to just hanging with my baby, just in blissful indolence, cooking for her, tasting her delicious cooking, just enjoying life together. Just such strong and beautiful emotions course through, making it ever so hard to wait for the blessed day.
