Showing posts with label BBC iPlayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BBC iPlayer. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Warning! Don't upgrade to Firefox Mozilla 4.0 or you'll regret it -it's bad news!; YouTube Video Speed History


Warning! Don't upgrade to Firefox Mozilla 4.0 or you'll regret it -it's bad news!

My home computer has NEVER 'hanged' as frequently and for as long as it has since I downloaded the new version of Firefox Mozilla 4.0 on Sunday, upgrading from 3.6.15, which is one of the reasons that there have been no posts here since then.

Lest you forget, my computer crashed a LOT on Google Chrome two years ago, which is why I migrated to Firefox Mozilla in the first place. Frankly, in 2008, I got tired of resorting to simply yanking my computer's electrical cord out of its surge suppressor and starting over again after Chrome CONSTANTLY froze-up, and Google said they couldn't fix the problem.

Guess what, I DON'T drive cars that don't already have a reverse gear, working windshield wipers and headlights, because sometimes, they are needed, even when the car is used perfectly.
That's the same reason that I no longer use a web browser
that the geniuses behind it can't or won't fix, preferring instead to simply shrug their shoulders and say that it's my problem when it doesn't work when used properly.
Sorry, I'm old-fashioned that way.


Chrome
will have to be perfect for me to ever go to it again.

Yes, I know I can use the computer Restore function but the point is why is something being released to the public that is so problematic?

I
mentioned the problem in an aside in an email earlier this afternoon about another subject. Sent, I should add, from somewhere other than my home computer, where this blog is cobbled together, two miles west of the Atlantic Ocean -and far-too-close to Hallandale Beach City Hall.
I've been having constant computer problems since Sunday night when I updated my Firefox Mozilla, i.e. lots more of "frozen" screens.
I pay for AT&T DSL Lite 6.0 but my computer is constantly operating at roughly between 3.7 and 4.2, and hence, a source of great frustration, esp. when AT&T customer service tells me that 6.0 is not a guarantee.
Thanks for telling me that after I signed-up!
An international jet-set friend commiserated.
glad to hear I'm not the only one having problems w Firefox...I watch Korean dramas on it, and it's been spotty...not downloading properly, freezing, etc.
Don't say you weren't warned.

To get a real gauge of what your computer speed is, as opposed to those dopey "speed tests" you see advertised, go to YouTube as I did below.

http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=174122

Right-click a
YouTube video you like and select "Take speed test."

It will give you a color-coded graph of your speed and how that compares to others with that ISP, your area, your state, your country and globally.

I assume this YouTube test will work as well for my friends and readers at distant posts in the far-flung Hallandale Beach Blog universe as it does for me here in Hallandale Beach,
whether it's:

a.) my fashion-forward
friends in Sweden with non-fashion/media jobs, who keep the Stockholm nightclubs busy at night even while studiously avoiding Stureplan's omnipresent photographers
http://stureplan.se/ -so they don't get linked by mistake to the free-spending credit card crowd, i.e. the "Brats"- or,

b.) my tech savvy and political savant friends in London and Notting Hill
, who keep sending me great material to read and ponder, both insightful and humorous.

The latter are constantly encouraging me to do whatever is necessary to come over next year for the London Olympics.

L
ike I need any encouragement for that!

Let me know if you try it and it doesn't work in your area, and I will mention that in a future blog post, but make sure you try it three times over two days before emailing me your thumbs down evaluation.

I'm sure the folks at
YouTube would be interested, too, since they want everyone to be able to see the videos -and the ads.

Below, the chart that tells me that my home computer speed is not world-class -or Olympian.
Me and my digital divide!


-------


YouTube Video Speed History

Your average video speed at this location from Feb 26, 2011 to Mar 26, 2011 was 3.71 Mbps.

Video Speed Comparison (Feb 26, 2011 to Mar 26, 2011)




Results from users of other ISPs near you:
  • Comcast [5.53 Mbps]
  • AT&T [4.84 Mbps]
This data is aggregated from our video servers. All ISP and geographic speed numbers are averages across many types of Internet connectivity.

Our FAQ has more information about our measurement methodology.

Show Test Video
The test video will show you your streaming information in real time (look next to "Streaming HTTP").

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Forgot to mention above that Stureplan.se is one of those great media platforms for bloggers like the ones that I referenced back on February 21st, like Spotlife.se http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/thoughts-re-mondays-nyt-article-blogs.html that South Florida has nothing like, despite how much everyone keeps telling Bridget Carey of the Herald how sophisticated this area is.
Nope.

The Herald's longstanding inability to leverage their power and well-known name into a great platform for thoughtful bloggers with something original to say -and that people are interested in- is proof of that.

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April 2011 postscript:
One of the unfortunate aspects of this story with Firefox Mozilla 4.0 was that after upgrading, I could no longer listen to the BBC Radio streaming feed, and specifically, 5live,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/, which I generally listen to a few hours a day.
It was finito.


Even after I reversed course and went back to the previous Mozilla I was using, I could no longer hear the BBC, so I'm now forced to use Internet Explorer.

In fact, the small speaker icon no longer appeared on-screen on the radio player pop-up as it had previously after
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_five_live

On April 4th, after trying my best to get this resolved, I sent out an email to IT-brainy friends titled: It's official: a week of using Firefox Mozilla for BBC Radio equals no sound for programs/programmes, Back to using fussy ol' Windows Explorer for Beeb!

The management geniuses at BBC Radio have no clue what's going on, witness this at their r comments page for the No Sound problem forum.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbiplayer/NF7331803?thread=8141049

The idea that people that don't have the problem themselves have so much time on their hands to actually write-in to the website to chastise other listeners they don't know and make them sound like audio hypochondriacs, says a lot about something, I'm just not sure what precisely.