The Leetzone

What's the big deal with Net Neutrality these days, and why should you care?

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:48:31 -0400

If you’ve been exploring the twitterverse or blogosphere recently, you may have noticed a large amount of posts and articles on net neutrality, Google + Verizon, and the future of the Internet. Well we at Leetzone have awoken from our Tumblr slumber to try to explain what the heck is going on, and give our own two cents on the issue as well. So let’s paint the big picture shall we?

The Internet. It’s huge, it’s filled with mind boggling amounts of data, users, sites etc. And it’s constantly evolving and transforming. And right now the issue over the future of the Internet is focused on “net neutrality”, with corporations like Google, Verizon, and Comcast right in the center of the argument. Net neutrality is the principle that says all information flowing across the Internet should be treated equally. Basically the issue comes down to keeping the web wide “open” or to have a more governed form of the web. And there are pros and cons going each way.

What happens if Internet providers have more power? The providers could create deals with whichever sites they chose to provide service for, in order to generate traffic for those sites and make it harder to go to the alternative competition sites. For example, a big influential blog like Mashable could set up a deal with providers like AT&T, Verizon, or Comcast in order to have preferred bandwidth for their site, and limited bandwidth for other similar blogs, effectively funneling traffic to their site. In time, they might even set up a deal to straight-up block other blogging sites. This is just a hypothetical example of how things could go. We have no founding for saying that would happen, but it could. (We love Mashable btw, they’re pretty cool)

But there are compelling reasons that have been argued for the opposite. Stronger Internet regulation could make the web a more secure place and help lesson the number of illegal activities occurring over the Internet. There are lots of horrible things that happen to ordinary people on the Internet. Financial frauds, phishing, identity thefts, credit card thefts and many other illegal activities occur every day, and curbing the high number of these events could only be a good thing. A more regulated Internet would no doubt help in this regard, but wouldn’t criminals just find another way around it?

So, our opinion. The reason you’re reading this post right? In our humble opinion, an unregulated Internet gives the ultimate power of what the web is made of the to users of the Internet, to the people. The Internet is a competitive free market, kept that way by allowing users to go where they want to go on the net. Regulation would curb the innovation that makes the Internet so great for everyone who uses it. Times may change and regulation may become necessary, but that isn’t the case right now. So for the time being, we would prefer to see net neutrality stand. Just our humble, unregulated opinion folks.

If you’ve got any questions at all, or just feel like sharing your opinion, don’t hesitate to contact us!

Leon gives his opinion about the iPad with a quick hands on,...

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:57:00 -0400

Leon gives his opinion about the iPad with a quick hands on, since we’ve been asked the question “Should I buy an iPad?” about 50 times in the past few days :)

Bottom line: The iPad is a leisure device. Its intuitive to use. Its fun, enjoyable, and beautiful. But it has it’s drawbacks - closed system (limited to App Store, which in my opinion counts as a Pro), a bit expensive, and it’s not a computer in the traditional sense of the word. If you have a laptop and a smart phone, its not worth it. If you rarely use a computer or you want a gorgeous tablet to surf the web, read books, watch videos, and play games - nab one of these babies.

Quick important notes:

The WiFi iPad is the only option for now. You NEED a wireless network in order to get on the internet with it. The 3G iPad comes out soon and will have a monthly pay-as-you-go plan for internet access anywhere.
You NEED a computer in order to use the iPad (initially.) It must connect with iTunes to configure, and in order to put your own music, documents, photos, and videos on the iPad you need to go through iTunes (unless of course you stick to apps like Netflix/YouTube for video, Pandora for music, etc.)
Price starts at $500. Personally, I think its a fair price. I don’t have the funds to get one, but I would love an iPad :)
Before you buy one, go play with one. A few minutes with this will let you know whether you’ll use it often or not. If you do buy it, play around with it for a bit. Remember there is a 30 day return policy at most places so if you’re not completely satisfied, go ahead and return it for your money. Seriously, it’s cool to do this with electronics!!

If you have one of these, leave a comment and let us know how you feel about it. And as usual, if you’ve got any questions feel free to email me leon@theleetzone.com and I’ll help you out.

Leon takes you through the basics of RAM, explaining what it is,...

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:20:00 -0400

Leon takes you through the basics of RAM, explaining what it is, how it works, and why you should stock up on some! Check out tv.theleetzone.com for more in depth detail and much cooler pictures.

What is RAM (Random Access Memory)?

RAM (aka system memory) is the short term memory of your computer’s mind. Think of RAM as your physical workspace in your office, or your desk in your dorm. You can only fit so much on it at one time, correct? All the stuff you put on your desk is the stuff you plan on working CURRENTLY working on. The rest is filed away in a drawer or a binder or some sort of storage. That storage is the Hard Drive, or hard disk drive, in your computer. You can then think of yourself as the processor, or the CPU. But back to the desk, the bigger your desk is, the more items you can put on it to work on at the same time.

The bottom line? Adding more RAM allows your computer to have multiple programs open at the same time, and will allow you to switch between them seamlessly. But why?

How does RAM work?

Think back to the desk analogy and you’ll get the gist of how RAM works. As I explain in the video using some really crappy drawings, RAM is the middle man between the SUPER DUPER FAST processor (aka CPU) and the MOLASSES-LY SLOW hard drive (aka storage space). If your computer needs to think of something or get something done, it’ll grab a bunch of data from the hard drive and stick it in the RAM where the processor can work on it much more quickly than from the hard drive. Another way to look at it is if you have 2 buildings - 1 where you store a bunch of stuff, and the other where you work on things. In the storage facility, you have a golf cart to move stuff around in. But to travel between the storage facility and your workplace you have a souped up pick-up truck, custom made by Ferarri. Would you rather deliever materials between the storage facility and your workplace using the golf cart? NO WAY. You use the golf cart to load the kickass Ferarri truck, and then drive the Ferarri truck to the workplace! It’s much more efficient that way.

Why do I need RAM?

If you want to have a bunch of programs open and still have a blazingly fast computer, you need RAM. These days, I’d say 2GB is about average, but for new computers 4GB (gigabyte, thats 1,024 MB [thats megabyte 1,024KB or kilobyte {which is 1024 Bytes } ] ) to 8GB is becoming the standard. Honestly, my ‘powerhouse’ work desktop only has 2GB of RAM. I could definitely use an upgrade to 4GB as my computer would feel much snappier, but I live with it!

Common RAM confusions

There IS an upper limit on RAM though. If you have 32GB of RAM, but if you’re only going to have a few programs open (ex. MS Word, a web browser, iTunes, and AIM), they will only take up a small fraction of the RAM… the rest is unused and wont have any impact on performance. It doesn’t matter how large your workdesk is since you’re limited by how fast you (the CPU) can actually perform the tasks.
A lot of beginners confused hard drive space with system memory / RAM. When you’re looking at labels, the much larger number is usually disk space… nowadays you’ll be seeing things like 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, etc. for hard drive space.
There are multiple speeds for RAM… the most common today is DDR2-800 PC-6400 … all you need to worry about is the 800, it means the speed is 800mHz (megahertz). Higher performance RAM is DDR2-1066, older RAM is DDR-400.
If you decide to upgrade your RAM, do a little bit a research (shoot me an email, leon@theleetzone.com) because the RAM in your computer probably has to match speeds. I can link you up to a few guides on how to find the right RAM or install it yourself, but Leetzone can always help with that :)

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email leon@theleetzone.com. Thanks peeps! If you enjoyed, you should Digg this or Retweet it!

In our first ever program Leon, our master IT consultant,...

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:03:00 -0400

In our first ever program Leon, our master IT consultant, introduces Leetzone TV and shows you a few quick tips to SPEED UP your aging computer.

Digg this video by clicking here!

Try out these methods, restart your computer, and then post up a comment on how effective they were!

Things You Should Know About the Internet circa 2010 - Part 1: Music and News

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:26:00 -0400

The internet is constantly changing. It could almost be considered a living, breathing entity. We can blame it on the fact that as humans discover what technology is capable of, they explore and expand on their ideas to build some amazing things. In this post, we’ll introduce you to some of the major modern players who are developing some great web applications. This shift of moving away from a computer-anchored programs to online accessible web app has been occurring for the past few years - you might hear it referred to as “the cloud”. We’ve put together a quick and dirty guide to some of the most popular apps. In this part, we’ll be discussing music and news!

Enjoy your music, done your way, how you want it

If there’s one thing that the internet has evolved over the past few years, its multimedia - pictures, music, and videos. We’ll touch base on pictures and videos a little later. For now, lets talk about what’s new in the music world…. ok, maybe the fact that you can play whatever song you like, whenever you like, for free? Yeah, sounds awesome because it IS awesome. Music streaming sites are fantastic. Quite possibly the most popular online music apps are Last.fm and Pandora. These sites let you create custom “stations” based on an artist or song that you like. They will then take that music and use some crazy algorithms to see what else exists in the musical world that you might enjoy. This allows you to explore your musical tastes and discover artists that you would have never found through conventional methods.

Sure, there’s always iTunes, but iTunes can’t be accessed from any computer - nor can you stream it live from your mobile devices. Last.fm and Pandora both have apps for major mobile devices that allow live streaming. What iTunes DOES offer is a fantastic store / music search if you know what you want. But is there something else out there? Of course, check out Grooveshark, the online music search engine that allows you to listen to the songs and make your own playlists online!

Examples of music webapps you should check out: Pandora, Last.fm, Grooveshark

The latest news, brought to you by social media

Traditional television news programs are out. It’s just much simpler to get your news online these days, even from the modern counterparts to traditional media. Sites such as the New York Times, CNN, and BBC have done a significant amount of work to make sure their sites deliver content to modern viewers. But even these traditional-gone-digital outlets suffer from lack of relevance - filtering and finding stories you are interested in is too difficult. Enter social media sites. Most of these sites are unique in that they allow any user to submit any piece of content. Other users then vote on the news submission. A good article that is well written, relevant, and comes from a reliable source will be voted up. Breaking news items, popular trends, and random goofiness from ALL AROUND THE WORLD get voted on by people, like you, so quality control is practically guaranteed. One of the best features of social media (despite having a voting system or not) is the commenting ability. I usually learn more by reading the comments on certain articles than I do from the actual news piece. This is great because people discuss the news item, describing their perspectives. It’s definitely mind-opening and highly recommended.

Examples of Social Media sites include: Digg.com, Reddit.com, Gawker.com (and other Gawker networks such as Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Kotaku, etc.)

Stay tuned for Part 2: Online Video and Photos, and Part 3: Online Productivity/Collaboration and Social Networking!

- leon m

"Teach and you’ll form a bond you just don’t get from traditional marketing tactics...."

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:47:00 -0400

“Teach and you’ll form a bond you just don’t get from traditional marketing tactics. Buying people’s attention with a magazine or online banner ad is one thing. Earning their loyalty by teaching them forms a whole different connection. They’ll trust you more. They’ll respect you more. Even if they don’t use your products, they’ll still be your fans.”

- Jason Fried, founder of 37signals

"There’s nothing scripted about my blogs, and I always do only one take. No redos, no tweaks,..."

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:45:00 -0400

“There’s nothing scripted about my blogs, and I always do only one take. No redos, no tweaks, nothing. People walk in and our of the office, I wave to folks passing in the hall - whatever happens during filming is what my audience will see. […] Sometimes the sound quality sucks. Sometimes the light is bad. As long as I get my point across and feel like I delivered the message in an authentic way, I don’t care.”

- Gary Vaynerchuck