Speedtest.net is a nice way to make you feel less guilty about spending too much money on Verizon FiOS test the speed of your internet connection. I decided to test things out on my Mac Pro. I tested out two different setups:

As you can see, the second test was significantly faster. What’s the difference between the two?

The first test was run via my Apple Time Capsule, an 802.11n-based wireless base station. Not only was it running 802.11n, the fastest current WiFi standard, but it was running in dual-band, 5 Ghz mode.

The second test was run using the stock Actiontec 802.11g router that Verizon supplied.

The two routers are connected via ethernet and are only inches away from each other. While the Actiontec is one hop closer to the external network, it really shouldn’t make that much of a difference. The 802.11n router should be faster or, at worst, the same speed as the g router (if the external connection is the limiting factor). The best I can do to explain the fact that I’m seeing an 802.11n router perform worse than an 802.11g router is that the antenna in the Actiontec (which is external) is better than that on the Time Capsule.

I adjusted the Multicast Rate on the Time Capsule to the maximum, which in theory shouldn’t really affect the speed, but it did seem to make a difference.

However, the speed was still a bit worse than the g router.

More detective work to follow…

If you’ve recently updated to Snow Leopard, you may want to check that you’re running the most recent version of Adobe’s Flash plugin. As Apple’s installation doesn’t include the latest version, you should probably just hit this link to get the newest version, which includes some security fixes. Some have commented that this is a failure on Apple’s part, but I think the problem here is that Flash does not seem to have any sort of auto-update feature. As much as I detest Adobe’s slow and clunky updater, I think it’s use here would have been appropriate.

In the process of moving, I’ve also finally had the opportunity to switch to Verizon FIOS from Comcast. The speed increase is dramatic, and I’m currently seeing rates of 25 Mbps down and up to 20 Mbps up…an order of magnitude better than with Comcast.

Since my Comcast service terminated prior to my billing cycle being over, I ended up with a credit on my account. After receiving the first bill, I figured Comcast would either send me a check or credit the card they have on file. When I received a negative bill for the second time, I called them up to see what was going on. The rep told me that they were “waiting for me to return the modem” which is funny since I’ve owned my own modem for years, since Comcast was not charging me for a modem over the past 5 years, and since someone had already come to my place to collect all the equipment.

It’s been forwarded to their “research” department.

I’m feeling even happier about the switch.

Update: Comcast called me, apologized, and they say they are working on fixing the problem. I’ll update the post when I’ve confirmed they’re refunded the balance.

Update 2: Comcast made the rebate. Not bad.

Etymotic Research makes some nice headphones. The HF2′s are my favorites for iPhone use – they are high quality earbuds with excellent sound isolation and a built-in microphone and button. They are the first set of earbuds I’ve had that reliably stay in my ear. However, reliability is not their strong suit.

I’m on my third set since buying this a little over a year ago, and once again they are exhibiting the same problem as they did previously. One earbud stops working. At first the problem is intermittent, then it becomes permanent. Fortunately, Etymotic has a 2 year warranty, and has once again agreed to replace them. After I pay to ship them back to the company.

It’s nice that they honor their warranty, but it would be better if they didn’t have the problem at all. They say they are working on a new cable design, but it’s not ready yet. They are offering to include some accessories for free.

I’m not really interested in free accessories – I just want these rather expensive headphones to keep working. A better solution would be to do what Apple once used to do: take my credit card info and ship me a new pair in a pre-paid return package. As long as I return the old headphones within 30 days, don’t charge me.

As someone who uses multiple computers, I’m often faced with the task of accessing my files in several different places. Some accomplish this by storing their files on a network-acessible drive, emailing files to themselves, or storing all their files on a USB stick. None of these are ideal solutions.

For a while, I tried using the iDisk feature that’s part of the MobileMe package. This is okay for simply storing a copy of the files, but it’s not really practical to store files on the iDisk and edit them in place. If you access the iDisk directly, the connection is too slow and frequent saves become painful. If you choose the option to sync your iDisk, you’ll often end up with conflicts that you have to resolve.

The best solution I’ve found has is Dropbox. I use this on my Macs, but there are versions for Windows and Linux as well, and you can share files over multiple platforms. The software installs a “Dropbox” folder on your computer, which I basically use as a documents folder. Anything put inside there automatically gets synchronized to the central Dropbox server without you having to do anything – the icon even changes to reflect when I file has been successfully synchronized. You can work on files in your Dropbox directly. Each time you save, the software automatically updates the central server in the background, without slowing down your machine. If a sync gets interrupted, it will resume the next time you’re online. You can access your files from any computer with the software installed and also via the web. I’m told an iPhone app is in the works.

Every revision you make is also saved, so you can restore older versions of files if you need to.

What’s great is that it really works: you just install it and can forget it’s there. It’s light on resources, so it won’t slow your computer to a crawl while it’s updating.

Check it out. You get a 2 GB account for free.

Back when I was…um…watching people line up for the original iPhone on the release day, I saw an elderly lady walk by the line and exclaim, “All this for a phone?”

To this day, I see similar comments, even among the tech literate.

The point, of course, is that it’s not just a phone. The iPhone and similar devices have become real personal computers. They’re not “just a phone”…or maybe our expectation of what a phone is needs to be updated.

I found this interesting read by Google’s (now ex-) lead visual designer, and it struck a chord. I use Google search and make some use of GMail. I know some people love Google products, but I’ve always found something a bit clumsy about sites like Gmail. Google packs some very slick functionality into a less-than-appealing wrapper. Some don’t care. Or they tolerate the lack of beauty because the product is so functional.

Apple succeeds when it combines great function with great form. With products like Gmail, the form appears to be an afterthought, because it probably is.

You know, I’m not a violent person. But there’s something about Bluetooth headsets which brings out my inner bully. Every time I see someone wearing one of these (particularly while NOT talking on the phone), I want to teach them a lesson. Make them an offer they can’t refuse. You get the idea. Anyway, just when I thought that was bad enough, some genius at Nikon decides to create this abomination:

Now tell me you don’t want to go all Chris Brown on him.

Please do not wear this.

There’s no way I’m going to replace it with something that looks like this:

Delivery Status is a dashboard widget with a very simple purpose: to help you track packages. You can set up multiple widgets to track multiple packages. It covers just about every shipping service and you can even track orders from companies like Amazon and Apple. Nice, but it gets better.

With version 4.5, the genius(es?) at June Cloud added a sync service. Your package info can be synchronized with their server. Why? Naturally so all your packages can also be tracked on your iPhone or iPod Touch. No manual sync required. It just works. And its awesome.

Did I mention that this is all free?

Why? Who cares. Just get it.