George Ou's technology blog

Plantronics MX500i 3-in-1 headset has superb sound

george_ou@lanarchitect.net — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:18:00 GMT

Finally I've found the one headset I've been looking for that can serve as a PC headset and a handset/mobile phone headset. I was pleasantly surprised by the Plantronics MX500i 3-in-1 VoIP Headset. I figure at an MSRP retail price of $60, it had to be good but it was even better than I though. You can actually get it for $38 including shipping.

WARNING - Optiquest Q241WB 24" LCD is not an 8-bit panel.

george_ou@lanarchitect.net — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:11:00 GMT

I bought an Optiquest Q241WB 24" LCD display after seeing how brilliant the display looked in the store at Fry's Electronics. It was obviously the only 8-bit per color LCD panel on display in the computer monitor section and it looked awesome and it was on sale for a mere $350 with a $50 rebate. I picked one up even though it was an open-box model since there were no notes warning about dead pixels and I could always return it if I didn't like it.

Well as it turns out, there were no dead pixels but all the pixels could have been dead as far as I was concerned. To my surprise, the display was NOT the same panel technology being displayed on the show floor at Fry's. This was not the brilliant 8-bit PVA LCD panel being shown but it was a typical ugly 6-bit TN LCD panel yet it came with the same model number. This is a very deceptive practice because it fools reviewers in to giving the display glowing reviews and shoppers get fooled by the beauty of the display in the store. Viewsonic needs to STOP this behavior immediately and Fry's (or any other store) need to warn their customers what what they're showing is not what's in the box. A lot of consumers who wouldn't know any better might have kept the display. This is clearly a case of bait and switch and it's false advertising.

See: Difference between LCD panel types

I am a new Senior Analyst at Washington DC based Think Tank ITIF.org

george_ou@lanarchitect.net — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:08:00 GMT

It's been nearly 3 months since I departed ZDNet. I'd like to thank everyone who has helped me after getting laid off at ZDNet.com regardless of whether it led to anything or not. I'm not mentioning any names but you know who you are and I want you to know how much I appreciate your help. It's been a rough two and a half months and my friends and colleagues have made all the difference in the world.

This week, I'm proud to announce that I've officially joined Washington DC based Think Tank ITIF.org (The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation) as a Senior Analyst. I will still be based out of Silicon Valley working remotely and I'll occasionally fly to Washington DC, Brussels, and anywhere else I need to be.

Just two years three months ago I worked as an IT consultant. These last two years I've been a blogger and journalist covering IT and technology. Now I'm starting a new chapter in my career and I look forward to it.

Some have asked me in the comment section below if I intend to keep blogging here. The answer is yes, I will continue to blog here.

Innovation 08 panel on Net Neutrality at Santa Clara University

george_ou@lanarchitect.net — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 14:54:00 GMT

Thursday morning I sat on a panel at the Innovation 08 Net Neutrality event at Santa Clara University. This came right at the heals of my Brussels trip where I gave a presentation on Net Neutrality to the some members of European Parliament and various industry folks. The jet lag wasn't so bad but the bigger problem for me was missing my 6 year old daughter's first big singing solo at her school which had to be at the same time as my panel. I spent a lot of time training her so it was certainly a big disappointment for me. The jet lag certainly did have a lot to do with why this blog wasn't posted earlier yesterday.

More deceptions from Free Press about Comcast "blocking"

george_ou@lanarchitect.net — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:37:00 GMT

The whole Comcast issue is being kicked around in the press in recent days because the Max Planck Institute released a study showing the rates of TCP resets happening throughout the world. But this whole issue is being mischaracterized as the "blocking" of BitTorrent and it's being portrayed as a free speech issue when it is nothing of a sort. Richard Bennett explained why this shouldn’t be considered blocking and Andrew Orlowski wrote a pretty good editorial raising the concern that this is trivializing real free spe

Revived Net Neutrality bill cripples Internet for real-time applications

george_ou@lanarchitect.net — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:39:00 GMT

Congressman John Conyers and Zoe Lofgren have reintroduced a Net Neutrality Bill that prohibits charges for "prioritization or enhanced quality of service" in the name of stopping discrimination. Unfortunately, it stops a lot more than discrimination; it flat out bans tiered pricing for different levels of QoS (Quality of Service) which cripples the Internet under the justification of banning "discrimination". Here's the text of the bill from the first time this bill was introduced that Richard Bennett dug up.

How Comcast customers can seed 100 times faster and bypass TCP resets

george_ou@lanarchitect.net — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:46:00 GMT

Comcast has been disconnecting a certain percentage of TCP streams emanating from BitTorrent and other P2P (peer-to-peer) seeders. This effectively delays and degrades the ability of Comcast customers to seed files using P2P applications. Now there's a way to force Comcast to give you a free 100 fold boost in performance, alleviate your upstream bandwidth as well as your neighbor's upstream bandwidth, and get much more reliability in the Torrent that you can seed and forget! Read on and learn how!

Comments on inaccurate testimony at the FCC Stanford hearing

george_ou@lanarchitect.net — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:56:00 GMT

The FCC hearing at Stanford University on April 17th 2008 was filled with inaccurate testimony from various witnesses. Since that testimony seems to be carrying significant weight both on Capitol Hill and in the media, I feel compelled to set the record straight. I have filed a copy of this letter on FCC docket 07-52.

Jon Peha testified that BitTorrent was like a telephone and implied that if a TCP reset is used by Comcast to stop a TCP stream, then that constituted a blockage of BitTorrent. Furthermore, Professor Peha implied through his telephone analogy that if BitTorrent is blocked, then the user must manually redial to reestablish the connection. These assertions are highly inaccurate ...

On Capitol Hill today at Georgetown

george_ou@lanarchitect.net — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 23:51:00 GMT

I am on a panel this morning at the Center for Business and Public Policy at Georgetown University Law Center titled "Spectrum Policy: From the Foundations to the Future."

Exact location:
Georgetown University Law Center on 600 New Jersey Ave in the Gewirz Building 12th floor and my panel starts at 9:00AM.

FCC hearings at Stanford

george_ou@lanarchitect.net — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:16:00 GMT

Here are the slides I presented at the FCC hearing in Stanford and here’s a letter version I sent to the FCC which gives a much fuller explanation. While the letter is a long read (3000+ words), I really hope you take the time to read it since it gives you the full picture of what I was trying to present. Vontv.net has the event on video

Update on George Ou's status

george_ou@lanarchitect.net — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:16:00 GMT

I will be presenting a keynote in front of at least 700 Verizon managers plus additional industry partners at the Verizon Technology Forum this Friday on 4/11/2008 starting at 8:20 AM. Note that my title was written before news of my ZDNet departure so it's not updated yet. Here's an excerpt from EarthTimes.org:

"PALATINE, Ill. - (Business Wire) Verizon and OSP® Magazine today announced a stellar speaker lineup that will participate at the second annual exclusive Technology Forum to be held April 10-11, 2008, at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Speakers include: Day One Keyno