Welcome to Land of Tricks

With all the hoopla about the iPhone 3GS’s speed, what about its little non-cellular brother, the touch? I took a second-generation touch, (reportedly sporting a 533-MHz ARM processor, versus the 3GS’s 600-MHz chip).

I ran the touch through a battery of performance tests before and after the OS upgrade from 2.2 to 3.0, and compared the results with those for the iPhone 3G and 3GS.

iPod Touch (2^nd gen) and iPhone Speed Tests: OS 2.2 vs. OS 3

	iPod Touch/OS 2.2.1	iPod touch/OS 3.0	iPhone 3G/OS 2.2.1	iPhone 3G/OS 3.0	iPhone 3GS/OS 3.0
Boot time from start	19 seconds	29	34	47	20
Load weather app and refresh weather	1.7	3.3	7	4	1
Download the 99 cent app “Benchmark” by Matt Matteson and run it	100	100	100	100	489
Load Twitterfon and refresh Tweets	5	6	16	18	6
Load NYTimes app and refresh articles	7.5	8	13	22	8
Load expedia.com (Wi-Fi, no 3G	12	13.2	15	17	8.7
Load Bejewelled 2 to menu	7.5	8.2	Not tested	11.7	4.4
SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark 0.9	103.6	37.4	Not tested	42	16.7

Though JavaScript performance has tripled, the new OS 3.0 adds a good chunk of time to startup the devices. And despite the much faster JavaScript performance, web pages load slightly slower in OS 3.0 than in 2.2. Mobile analyst Sascha Segan and I consider that it’s clearly to do with graphics and layout rendering rather than JavaScript. I’m surprised the browser isn’t faster in general, the way Safari 4 is on the desktop.

The takeaway from this is that you probably shouldn’t bother handing over ten bucks to Apple for OS 3.0 if you’re a touch user who wants faster performance. If, on the other hand, cut-and-paste, Spotlight search, and streaming video apps like MLB At Bat are things you can’t live without, you have no option other than to buy the new operating system. You should also feel good if you’re a second-gen touch user who likes to run apps: you’re in better shape, performance-wise, than iPhone 3G owners!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Local area networks (LAN ) networks are internal to an organization, i.e. the connections between machines belong to the organization. These networks are increasingly connected to the Internet through equipment interconnection. It happens often that companies feel the need to communicate with subsidiaries, customers or even staff geographically remote from the Internet or remote that individuals want to create a secure VLAN.

However, the data transmitted on the Internet are much more vulnerable than when running on an internal network because the path is not defined in advance, which means that the data network infrastructure using public-owned operators . Thus it is not impossible that on the path, the network may be listened to by a user indiscreet or misappropriated. It is not conceivable to transmit in such conditions of sensitive information.

The first solution to address this need for secure communication is to connect remote networks with dedicated lines. However, most companies can not afford to connect two remote LAN through a dedicated line, it is sometimes necessary to use the Internet as a medium of transmission.

A good compromise is to use the Internet as a transmission medium using a protocol of “encapsulation” (tunneling) ie encapsulating data way to transmit encrypted. This is called virtual private network (VPN or RPV noted, an acronym for Virtual Private Network) to denote the artificially created.
This virtual network is said because it connects two “physical” (LAN) by a bond unreliable (Internet), and private computers only because of local side of the VPN can “see” the data.

The VPN system allows for a secure connection at a lower cost, if this is the implementation of terminal equipment. In return it does not ensure a quality of service comparable to a leased line as the physical network is public and therefore not guaranteed.

Popularity: 4% [?]

1. Explain to your followers what retweeting is and encourage them to retweet your links. Retweeting pushes your @username into foreign social graphs, resulting in clicks back to your profile. Track your retweets using retweetist
2. Fill out your bio. Your latest tweets and @replies don’t mean much to someone that doesn’t know you. Your bio is the only place you have to tell people who you are. Also, your bio is displayed on Twitter’s Suggested Users page. Leaving it blank or non-descriptive doesn’t encourage people to add you.
3. As @garyvee says, “link it up.” Put links to your Twitter profile everywhere. Link it on your Digg, LinkedIn, Facebook, blog, email signature, and everywhere else you live online. Also, check out the great feedburner-like badges from TwitterCounter for your blog.
4. Tweet about your passions in life and #hash tag them. Quality content coupled with an easy way to find it never fails. If others enjoy your content, they’ll add you. Learn more about #hash tagging here.
5. Bring your twitter account into the physical world. Every time I give a talk, speak on a panel, shoot a podcast, present slides, or hand out business cards, I figure out a way to broadcast or display my twitter account.
6. Take pictures. Pictures are heavily retweeted/spread around. This one from US Airways Flight 1549 has been viewed 350,000+ times. For mobile pics use iPhone apps such as Tweetie or Twitterific, both which support on the go uploading.
7. Start a contest. @jasoncalacanis offered a free macbook air if he reached the #1 most followed spot. That never happened, but Jason added thousands of followers…brilliant.
8. Follow the top twitter users and watch what they tweet. Pay attention to the type of content they sent out and how they address their audiences.
9. Reply to/get involved in #hash tag memes. search.twitter.com lists the hot ‘trending topics. Look for the #hash topics and jump in on the conversation (see #4 for links to #hash instructions).
10. Track your results. TwitterCounter will show you how many new users you’re adding per day and Qwitter will email you when someone unfollows you after a tweet.

Popularity: 7% [?]