Archive for April 25th, 2008
Is Internet going to die in two years?(0)
That is what AT&T would like us to believe. The company says unless a lot of money is spent on network infrastructure we will run out of bandwidth by 2010. But before you panic remember AT&T may be to coming up with these dire warnings for selfish reasons and they may have little to do with helping the average people like us.
One possibility is that they want to jack up the price. It will go something like this: some of the spending in the infrastructure will be passed on to the consumer as a premium service. That means unless we pay up we will get a reduced rate service under the current plan. Today’s regular service will be tomorrow’s premium. Then there is the net neutrality debate that is raging in capital hill. Companies like AT&T would love to charge different price for different traffic. That way they can make more money. That argument goes like this: the bandwidth is limited and to make sure everyone gets a fair share companies like AT&T should have the right to allocate who gets how much. Sounds logical until we realize it is just another way of controlling price to make more money. People are already complaining that companies like AT&T are engaged in prioritizing traffic giving preference to data from certain source and ignoring others.
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Where can you get 76c a gallon gas?(0)
This was not a mistake. Drivers in Philadelphia got a real break from high gas price when a local gas station offered a special price of 76 cents a gallon for gas. The promotion was tied to the occasion of 76ers making it to the playoffs.
This is the first time in past three years Philadelphia 76ers are in the playoffs. A local gas station owner wanted to mark the special occasion with a promotion that drivers can really celebrate. Starting at noon, the station offered gas for 76 cents a gallon. That is almost one fifth or 20% of the normal price of $3.69 a gallon. The drivers did not want to miss the opportunity and started lining up from early morning at 6:30am. By noon there were more than hundred cars waiting in the line. But there was a catch. The offer was for limited time only: 76 minute to be precise. About 100 cars got the deal before the 76 minute was up.
It is not clear how the person who was in front of the line but missed the deal felt.
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