Archive for March, 2008Working from Boston today doing research at a real, honest-to-goodness library. I’m planning to swing by my alma mater and also the BPL during my travels. If you need me, get me on Twitter under the name jeffcutler. Or send me an email. Later today I hope to be sending out a couple research requests and queries. Stay tuned! As you know, I’m a professional writer and as such don’t like to give my services away for free. That’s the same as a plumber hooking up your shower for no money or a mechanic fixing your car and not charging you. But, in some cases it’s important to show what you can do before you can expect an outlet or publication to purchase future work. That’s why, from time to time, there are columns and other written works here. It’s also why I’ve been doing my podcasts with regularity and why I sometimes share well-crafted opinion letters with different magazines and newspapers. Today, I’ve submitted the following blog entry to the online and printed free Boston daily, BostonNow. I’ve submitted quite a few pieces in the past but have always given my readers the chance to read them on my sites as well. Nothing has changed except I’m explaining the process. So, below is today’s entry. Enjoy… ———————— Comcast Still Not Shaping Up Jumping online before the shower in the morning to check email, clicking over to Twitter and iChat during the workday with friends and colleagues, and surfing blogs and Websites in the evening after work. None of this would be pleasant or even possible without the speed and reliability of the communication networks that span the globe. You know the names of the big players and the speeds they’re currently promising, but have you really taken a hard look at the contract you sign and what you really get for your $19, $35, $49 or even $70 per month? It’s amazing that we can almost instantly share a video with someone across the country and that we can talk on the phone over the Internet in real time, but what might surprise you is the control the ISPs have over what you send and if the material you’re downloading or uploading even gets to its destination. In a comment that Comcast made last August, they denied that it used any ‘packet-shaping’ methods to affect its customers’ files. For the uninitiated, here’s a simplified description of the process… The ISP uses software that allows traffic to flow upstream and downstream efficiently. When the software encounters a situation where one user is taking up more than a ‘normal’ amount a bandwidth, the software turns down the flow to that person so that all other users can keep their efficient speeds. In the case of people who use the Internet as their phone service or to share music and video files, the shaping becomes a little more sinister as the software chokes their data flow to a crawl. In most cases, the decision to choke off or dramatically slow down access is based on the types of data packets the provider’s software sees being transmitted. The excuse for this behavior is that people who use too much bandwidth are taking away speed and access from others by hogging the lines. That’s patently false. Studies have shown, and the infrastructure is so robust, that even with P2P file sharing, VOIP (voice over IP) phone use and other heavy bandwidth use, the network is minimally affected. In the past, Comcast has used Sandvine software to shape packets and traffic on their network. When it was reported that Comcast was using its product to limit network use, Tom Donnelly, the executive VP of sales and marketing at Sandvine wouldn’t comment. What he did share in a http://www.lightreading.com article was the thought that service providers have policies in place to discriminate against certain types of traffic. This is exactly what Comcast has been doing…until now. Just the other day, Comcast did an about-face and owned up to this practice. According to the Center for Democracy & Technology, in a statement Comcast made jointly with BitTorrent, they have decided to change the way they respond to network congestion. Well, that statement is a clear admission that they have been packet shaping and throttling down traffic. But why admit that now? Some analysts feel that this move is being made because the FCC has started to look into the possibility of regulating ISPs’ business practices (though some doubt that’s within their purview), and some people just think it’s a way for Comcast to introduce tiered service levels. Which means if things go the way Comcast plans, they’re going to soon have users over a barrel like they do with cable television. Use the Internet a lot, pay a lot. Want more speed, pay more. And I suspect that similar to cellphone use, you won’t know if you’re over your limit until you get dinged with a higher charge. The real solution here is to have the ISPs give a full accounting of the speeds possible, the number of users they can handle and the costs they incur when providing these services. That way we’ll all know if we’re being gouged for service that only costs them pennies to provide. And in that way we’ll be able to respond to the shape of Internet access and things to come. My concerns: The sabbatical is moving along nicely, but I’d like to have some more feedback from pro’s. My delights: Responses to my work have come in, so it’s not as if I’m working in a vacuum. Overall, the sabbatical is a pleasure. I’m excited for more responses and for getting rolling in more heavy projects like the books and screenplay. Also need to line up some informational interviews with some columnist names and some influential editors. Will work on all that through the next week and beyond. If there’s a particular question you have about the sabbatical or the writing process, contact me here in the comments. Keep reading! Sent a contest entry off to Mystery Writers of America, sent a few queries off today to some small publications with niche readerships—probably great spots for some of my columns or articles, and read through some more of my magazine pile. When editors ask you to peruse a handful of issues to figure out their style, they mean it. But it’s time well-spent. So far I have a much better grasp of what types of features, columns and fillers go where. It’s also helped me generate article ideas for other markets. As your teachers told you, READ! That’s right. I felt the muse today and put together a poem. As my friend Michael Rand says, it’s hard work doing something as soul-wrenching as poetry. I agree. But I pulled a three-stanza piece from my core and submitted it to GUD Magazine. Here’s their link. It’s a pretty nice publication and organization. Today I also contacted a few other outlets and sent a note to a local daily newspaper about doing some freelancing for them. More updates tomorrow. It could be Brainstorm Wednesday or Query Wednesday. I’ll let you know. When you look in the mirror do you see the stunning picture of success or an ordinary, perfectly acceptable human who might be missing that little extra ‘something’? Is the gleam missing from your eyes, the hop missing from your step, and the confidence missing from your posture? I used to be that guy but that’s all about to change. I’m waiting for the familiar rumble of the UPS truck on my rutted side road, because inside that massive brown truck is proof of my success. And when the overnight envelope drops down next to my front door, I’ll probably giggle a little and start beaming. For some people this moment would be the delivery of their first book (been there, done that), a diploma that had to get mailed home once class fees or college community service was completed (nope, got my diploma right on stage at Boston Garden, or even divorce papers being dropped off (I don’t have a copy of mine, but it was an uncontested dissolving of a union). None of those things apply because the envelope that arrives today has tickets inside. Baseball tickets. Baseball season tickets. Baseball box-seat, season tickets. Those tickets are how, in-part, I measure my life accomplishments. On the list of 100 things to do before I die, season tickets to a sports team have always made the cut. When things like sky-diving dropped off the list, season tickets remained. When driving across the country received a check mark, season tickets moved up in the queue. And when other additions threatened to bump some lesser goals off the list, season tickets were never in danger. The value of this purchase from a personal perspective is soul-defining. Primarily because my perception of success has been influenced by what I saw around me during high school and college. Successful people ate out (which may have something to do with my credit card fetish), they traveled a lot (please note that I’ve only been to Europe four times since 2004), they enjoyed the arts (struggling through museums is a favorite pastime), and they had season tickets. Similar to a season pass on the ski slope, a season ticket affords you choices mere mortals don’t get. Let’s use a baseball season for example. Of 81 home games, you can decide to attend one, some, all or none of the games and still retain the status and power that having tickets delivers. You can give away seats and garner favors. Or use tickets as gifts when you’ve forgotten an occasion. You can attend games with friends or colleagues. And you can just use the seats alone-giving yourself extra arm and leg-room. Best of all, you can use the phrase, “I have season tickets.” It’s not quite as impressive as murmuring, “Have you met my girlfriend? She’s a surgeon, massage therapist and world-champion gymnast,” but you get the point. So, with the sun peeking through the curtains and the team traipsing around Asia, I’m sitting here waiting for a large dirt-colored truck to stop at the house and deliver me a little package of ego. An overnight delivery of confidence, vim, vigor and happiness. Until that happens, I can’t be absolutely sure that I’ve made it. -30- The past couple days have been crazy, so here’s a recap… Met with my investors yesterday who seem pleased at the progress I’m making during this project. At the end of three weeks I have two large projects underway and a handful of other projects and queries in the pipeline. Contacted a few new publications (national and regional) for the Jonathan Coulton pieces and have already heard back from one. Nothing great yet, but response time in the magazine industry is notoriously slow so I’m not worried. And it’s actually a good sign when a response is slow—that often means that an editor has either taken an interest in the piece and wants to talk to other editors about it, or it’s sitting in a pile somewhere waiting to be read. Developed a few more non-fiction book ideas. Queries for those will go out in the next few weeks. Worked on a poem, but it’s not as finished as it could be and will need some more work. Found a few more interesting newspaper or magazine feature ideas. These are via events to attend in Boston and Cambridge. May pitch those to the local media. Continued to improve my work space. That’s all for now. I know today is rumored to be New Media Friday, but we both understood that once the wheels started turning, response from editors would dictate my workflow. Look for a podcast in the next week or so. I still have people lined up for A Life of Play and have some stuff in the pipeline for Bowl of Cheese. Chat soon. You can follow me on Twitter – where I share some inter-day progress. Or just leave your comments here on the blog. As you probably understand, my paid assignments take precedence over the shared writing that appears here. It turns out that yesterday—Tuesday—was one whirlwind of a day. I put the finishing touches on some interviews, did a bunch of market research, and exchanged emails with a handful of editors at different publications. Therefore, you’re not getting that column I spoke of yesterday. Suffice it to say I will share a column with you when the bandwidth returns in a day or two. But for now I’m writing materials for publication and will chat with you shortly. Thanks for your patience and interest! This morning I spent a little over an hour on the phone with Jonathan Coulton in prep for an article or two for some national publications. Therefore, you’re not getting your regular Monday dose of column writing. Hang tight. I’ll write a column and post it first thing tomorrow. If you’re an editor and would like to see other pieces from my portfolio, click on over to Ideas2Words or send me an email. Thanks! Similar to the vitamins being prescribed for everything that might ail you, I’m using the 1000 term as my prescription to success. After a talk yesterday with a friend, I realized that even at two weeks into the writing project I had let a few appointments get between me and the keyboard. Granted, these appointments were: a visit to the doctor, interviews with people for future magazine articles, and lunch with new media professionals. But that shouldn’t deter me from banging on the keys for a little bit each day. Just as Isaac Asimov relentlessly clacked away for 1000 words a day, I too shall click the keys for that many words per day. You’ll likely see less work being posted here but you will get regular updates on my progress and successes. Give me a shout in the comments if you are looking for more specifics on my work or if you’re an editor who would like to view more samples. Ultimately, the Jeff Cutler dot com schedule will be: Monday – a column Friday will also remain New Media Friday and I’ll likely record Monday’s column as a podcast that you can subscribe to at Bowl of Cheese dot com. Comments and questions are welcome. Gotta run. About 800 more words to get down on screen before the whistle blows! |
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