We all want bigger, better, more efficient, special, and cheap. But when we see "new and improved," are we being fooled by hype?
Digital-only mobile phone systems
Some mobile phone systems are advertising digital-only service, telling you that the digital system sounds almost like your home phone. What you may not find out (unless you remembered to find out about coverage information) is that your phone only works, currently, in major cities. Unlike phones that work with digital or analog or analog-only phones, your digital system cannot switch to analog if it can't find a local digital system. In the US, Sprint PCS's coverage looks like this:
This means if you find yourself in western Texas, most of the northern-central part of the country, South Carolina, and other areas, you will have NO service. Some digital service providers are not always forthcoming with the fact that while digital calls may not experience static, they will experience dropouts, which is the temporary complete lack of sound. Anyone who's ever tried listening to a cassette that's been near a magnet or was recorded 20 years ago may be familiar with dropouts.
40-bit Colour
Once upon a time, we were all sighing with ecstasy when we upgraded our computers from a glowing orange or green screen to one that could show us sixteen different colours. Wow! Then it was 256 colours, then 65,000, now we all want 24-bit colour, which gives us 16.7 million colours. Double wow! According to my web site's tracker, which tells me how many people can see how many colours, 24-bit colour and 32-bit colour both produce 16.7 million colours. If those are the same, what will 40-bit colour bring us? The same 16.7 million colours? Is 16.7 million colours the point at which our eyes can't process any more new colour information? What about people who work mostly with print media and usually work with four-colour process (the colours produced by cyan, magenta, yellow, and black aka CMYK). If they're limited to the colours that can be created from those combinations (remember your finger-painting days), then why bother having a scanner or screen that claims to bring 32-bit or 40-bit colour?
56K Modem
Technically, a 56K modem would give you an Internet connection in the neighbourhood of 56,000 bps. We all want fast Internet, but is the Internet ready for us? Many people I know in major US cities can't get a real 56,000 bps connection, and end up with around 52,000 on a good day. Here in New Mexico, where they've just retired the Pony Express, my friends with 56K modems are getting 44,000 bps on a good day. If your computer came with a 56K modem, I wouldn't suggest downgrading (!), but if you're still running a 28.8K or a 33.6K, check with your local providers on their real connect speed before investing in a new modem; make sure the speed improvement is worth the money.
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