Video Killed the Internet Bandwidth

This probably isn't a surprise to you, but "the amount of video online is skyrocketing."

Already, according to CacheLogic "more than 60 percent of Internet traffic is being taken up by peer-to-peer swaps, and about 60 percent of those swaps involve video content." Add to that all the "legit" video sources popping up all over the place (the iTunes movies, the YouTubes, the Vimeos and the Google Videos of the interweb) and that's a lot of bandwidth.

But we say it's only going to get worse before it gets better, and we do want it to get better, so we offer up this, the perfect example of why the internet needs more video. For your viewing pleasure, why one should never leash a cat:

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in Arts & Entertainment on February 23, 2006 2:01 PM

Comments [rss]

Brightliner

Dude,

You're not reading everything I wrote. Americans pay some of the highest prices in the world for some of the slowest broadband access. It's not limited to Japan.

Ona

We had the brilliant idea to walk our cat on a leash years ago. She climbed the side of the building and got wedged in the first floor window bars. Removing her resulted in all sorts of bleeding gashes on our arms. Bad idea!

Just saw a recent article about how the US phone companies were supposed to offer 100 mbps broadband as part of a deal with the government some years ago, but they've never followed through. Can't recall where I read that. Does anyone else remember hearing about this?

coreynyc

Actually that cat now lives in Chelsea, so its all good.

chris

shh, don't remind them...it'll be too hilarious months from now when they suddenly realized they'd forgotten entirely and every post involved cute kittens or olympic hockey.

thompson

Gothamist is a website about New York.

j0sh

And for a slightly different angle of internet cat-related video humor-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8JGKKYEDbE

zincink

LOL! I once put a leash on a housecat just to see if it would like to go outside...well it took off like a speeding train and did pop-a-wheelies and snapped out of the leash only to run away lol! We got her back a few days later...never again with the leash..

Brightliner

I meant $25 a month. But you knew that.

Brightliner

That's a very old video. IIRC, they showed it on America's Funniest Home Videos back when that show was new, circa 1990.

Meanwhile, the American ISPs complain about terrible demands on their networks. Maybe they wouldn't have a problem if their networks weren't so crappy to begin with. In Japan, you can get 100Mbps broadband for the equivalent of $25 a year. Time Warner charges $45 for 1/20th the speed. Verizon's FIOS is a little better at 15Mbps for the same price, but that's still 1/7th the Japanese speed at nearly double the price. South Korea has similar pricing and even much of Europe gets better pricing than we do. And good luck getting FIOS to begin with, especially if you're in Manhattan.

Carla

1) Nice use of technobabble posing as a news post as an excuse to post America's Funniest Home Videos material. Masterfully done.

2) I knew trouble was coming when the handler kept letting the cat run between his legs. He's lucky that cat didn't sink his teeth into the magic bags.