It used to be that I trusted Speakeasy’s Speed Test for accurate network measurements, but in light of recent results, I tend to trust Speedtest.net a lot more. To wit, these are the results from our recent switch to Comcast “Blast” broadband service (taken in alternating tests between the test services):

• Speedtest.net
  • 11.75/2.41
  • 12.94/2.46
  • 14.04/2.59
• Speakeasy Speed Test
  • 25.84/2.47
  • 24.50/2.76
  • 22.97/2.75
• DSLReports.com net@access server test (just for good measure)
  • 14.24/1.42

I understand Comcast does some sort of “speed boost” think that boosts the speed of the first part of a download or upload event, so I wonder if that accounts for the discrepancy. Perhaps Speakeasy doesn’t transfer as much data and therefore only gets the boosted speed and not something closer to the average? In any event, in a given measure of network speed, I tend to believe the lower number. Besides, Speedtest.net’s results images are prettier:

What service do you use to test your network speed? Is there any evidence to think one is more accurate than another?

The new iPhone announced on Monday is officially called the “iPhone 3G S” by Apple, but others (myself included) immediately started calling it the “///gs” — a combination of the Apple ///, and the Apple ][gs, two early pre-Macintosh Apple computers.

This was too good an idea to pass up, so I’ve created iPhone and Desktop wallpaper for both a completely retro “iphone ///gs” design, and one that combines the retro with a little bit of modern shiny look.

Just click on the thumbnails below to view the full-size version, which you can drag straight to your desktop to save.

As always, the Apple logo (six-color or otherwise) is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc..

Desktop Retro (2560x1600)Desktop Modern (2560x1600)iPhone RetroiPhone Modern

Update on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 by Mark

I’m also releasing the retro “iPhone ///gs” logo under a Creative Commons BY/NC/SA license, just in case you crazy kids want to do something else cool with it. If you do, I’d love to hear about it!

Download the retro logo as SVG.

iphone ///gs by Mark Boszko is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at stationinthemetro.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at boszko@gmail.com.

The theme from the old LucasArts game Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders seems to be especially popular for latter-day remixes. Case in point — I was digitizing an old mixtape, and discovered I had both a basic remix and a “House” version created as Amiga MOD Tracker remixes by a friend of mine, Mark Darin (now of Monkey Island fame!).

I later created a mix of my own, somewhat inspired by Mark’s take on it; and I hear tell (on Wikipedia) that Martin Irigoyen, The Dead Guys, Puffy64 (a really slick 90s rock take), DJ Lizard, Razor and the Scumettes, the German band Glückswald, omnibrain, Daniel Strandberg, Roland Koch, and 55-cycle have all also made covers of the song. There’s also a few unattributed versions I found, like this C64 SID version, and a basic GM version.

But the coolest version I never thought I’d hear (and just discovered in the research for this post) is the original theme. No, not the one that shipped on the C64 — the original 1987 synth version that Matthew Alan Kane recorded before he programmed it into the game. Wicked keen.

For more info about the music of Zak McKracken, I recommend Zak-Site.com.