LagBuster makes online games play faster — even Call of Duty

This was intended to be an update column on bufferbloat, a problem mentioned in my January 2011 predictions that is messing with our enjoyment of bad movies on NetFlix and other streaming video services. There’s good news about bufferbloat but that will have to wait a day or so because this column is about something completely different — LagBuster. If you are a serious gamer you need LagBuster.

The difference between bufferbloat and lag is that bufferbloat is mainly downstream (video server to you) while lag is mainly upstream (you to the game server). Bufferbloat is caused by large memory buffers in devices like routers and in applications like media players messing […]

Is the U.S. Startup Economy Failing?

As I’ve written here many times before, small companies and especially new companies are what create nearly all of the net new jobs in America, yet a new study released last week by the Hudson Institute suggests the rate of job formation by new firms is down dramatically in recent years, from an average of 11 new startup jobs per 1000 workers at a peak in 2006 down to 7.8 new startup jobs per 1000 workers in 2011 — a 29 percent decline.  So is the startup economy losing its oomph and should we be worried? No the startup economy isn’t losing its oomph but yes, it’s time […]

Muhammad v. YouTube

Update — From reader comments below it sounds like many people think I am advocating some specific behavior from either YouTube or President Obama. That’s not true. I’m not proposing that either DO anything. I’m  just explaining what I believe is happening and why, which is pretty much all I ever do around here if you haven’t noticed. I’m neither trying to hobble the First Amendment nor take any political or religious stand whatsoever. If people think I am doing ether, well they aren’t reading very carefully at all, because it simply isn’t in there. So settle down, everyone. 

Moving on to any readers who […]

Thunderbolt, on an iPhone 5?

Update — It sounds like the iPhone 5’s “Lightning” port may not be a true “Thunderbolt” interface. So far the info on Lightning has been extremely vague. Thunderbolt is a 20 pin interface, Lightning appears to be a 10 pin interface.  No one really knows right now.  Apple claims it is an adaptive interface.  Perhaps it can support USB 2.0 signals and a subset of the Thunderbolt interface.  The USB “adapter” may simply align the power and data lines to the Lightning interface.  USB has 2 power lines and 2 data lines.  Lightning has 8 data lines.  Perhaps it can operate with a variable number (2-8) of data lines.  I wonder if they can support 

LinkedIn SNAFU

I’ll be posting a column shortly about today’s announcements from Apple, but first an apology.  If you received a connection request from me through LinkedIn, I probably didn’t send it.  LinkedIn sent it all by itself.

Twice now I’ve been faced with a dialog on the LinkedIn network where it proposes to blanket the world with link requests on my behalf. Twice now I’ve selected NO! and from the responses I’m getting in my e-mail twice now LinkedIn has gone ahead in and sent the requests defying my express orders.

Am I the only person experiencing this?

I’m a native English speaker and pretty good at reading the language, too, so I don’t think I’m sending the requests by mistake.

Of […]