System of a down
Even if you have a pretty new computer these days, you might be out of luck when it comes to new diversions.
A brand-new web-only science fiction series called Sanctuary has debuted, and I couldn’t even get the preview to play on my new Macbook without it freezing and reloading four times in two minutes. And that’s with the most updated version of Flash.
And Blizzard has just announced StarCraft II — which also freezes up the machine when we try to play the trailer.
Heck, I can’t even grab any artwork to show you, it’s all Flash and fancy stuff. If you think your machine can take it, you now have the links.
Have I mentioned there are tons of computer users (like my mom) still on dial-up?
My guess is that Starcraft II will be released in February of 2009. Looks like I'm going to have to take a vacation for well .. about all of 2009.
I wonder how many active "surfers" are out there on dial-up like your mom.
Aparently broadband is up to around 80% among "active internet users" in the U.S., but by household it still ranks only 25th in the world at about 50%. A long way behind South Korea with 88%. Of course there's a big difference between 768kbps DSL and 30Mbps cable and "broadband" covers them all. From our recent experiences lower end DSL is almost as unusable as dial-up with some sites. 1.5Mbs is about as good as it gets here so it looks like we may have cable in our future.
Personally, I'm always amazed by how many people are still on dial up. Clearly, the percentages are dwindling, but I think there are three categories of people who remain with dial-up: those that have no broadband access (there are still places that are cable-deprived that do not have DSL — and satellite is too expensive and not all that much faster than dial-up), those that have a limited ability or desire to upgrade, and folks — particularly the elderly — who know what they've got and how to run it and do not want to be bothered by having to deal with something new for which they fail to discern a clear need.Overall, broadband is growing a hell of a lot faster than, say, the telephone, cable teevee, or even broadcasst television.