The Bandwidth Math on RSS

Grok Headline matches for The Bandwidth Math on RSS

What RSS Bandwidth Problem?

What RSS Bandwidth Problem? 02/05/2005 10:12 PM
The so-called RSS Bandwidth Problem is a meme that just won't frickin' die. I think Joel Spolsky started it way...

Bandwidth Manager

Bandwidth Manager 03/30/2005 05:26 PM
Welcome to Bandwidth Manager!

I Shall Fear No Bandwidth

I Shall Fear No Bandwidth 03/08/2004 11:15 PM
Church offers Wi-Fi for reading scripture commentary, comparing texts, and following sports scores: It sounds like a parody at first, a church providing Wi-Fi access throughout the building, but Richard Tallent makes a good case for combining technology with religious practice. It's not quite the parable of the prodigal son, but he notes that it's the folks who are hardest to reach who are the ones who should have the most outreach to bring them in. He also provides a link to Acts which describes a listener to Paul who fell asleep and out an open window while he was preaching. There is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes). [via Robert Scoble]...

RSS Comes with Bandwidth Price Tag

RSS Comes with Bandwidth Price Tag 09/20/2004 10:46 PM
As XML syndication grows in popularity, feed publishers are discovering unintended and unfortunate consequences: hits on bandwidth and scouring for solutions.

More on RSS bandwidth consumption

More on RSS bandwidth consumption 07/21/2004 11:02 AM

A few months back I wrote about RSS bandwidth consumption, and this subject is again in the news following Chad Dickerson's recent InfoWorld column about his love/hate relationship with RSS. Dickerson notes that desktop RSS readers which hit a feed too frequently - and then download the feed even when it hasn't changed - are resulting in a huge server load.

However, as Dare Obasanjo points out, many of those complaining about RSS bandwidth consumption fail to configure their own servers to address the problem. Dare shows that InfoWorld's feed supports neither GZip encoding nor conditional HTTP Get, both of which would dramatically decrease RSS bandwidth consumption. The latest RSS reader stats show that all the major ones support these techniques, so make sure your server (and/or the feed itself) supports these techniques. If you have a static feed, chances are your server handles this for you - but if you have a dynamic feed (i.e.: one created on-the-fly with PHP or ASP), you may need to make some changes.

In the past, raising this topic has been followed by naive calls to stop using desktop RSS readers in favor of web-based applications, since web-based aggregators consume less bandwidth. I'm far too biased to argue about desktop vs. web aggregators, but the argument is moot since many people find the UI and feature set of web-based apps too limiting for their needs and will always want a desktop application (witness Outlook vs. HotMail). Arguing for either type of application is pointless, since each will be around for a long time.

BTW, I'm glad to see that Sam Ruby is proposing updating the Atom spec and the feed validator to support HTTP conditional get. My guess is that a lot of bandwidth will be saved once the feed validator warns about feeds that don't take advantage the If-Modified-Since and If-None-Match HTTP headers.

Oh, and since I mentioned RSS reader stats, I have to get this off my chest: server stats are not an accurate representation of the popularity of individual RSS readers. A number of RSS readers default to checking for updates every hour, whereas FeedDemon defaults to checking every three hours. So, three times as many people would need to use FeedDemon for it to be ranked equally with these other apps.

Bandwidth roundtable

Bandwidth roundtable 07/26/2004 08:39 AM
Leading figures from the worlds of business, labor and technology give their insights into broadband policy.

Bandwidth vs Storage

Bandwidth vs Storage 09/16/2004 11:14 AM

My discussion on the bandwidth versus storage versus quality debate on PaidContent.org.

Bandwidth Monitor NG 0.3

Bandwidth Monitor NG 0.3 09/16/2004 02:01 AM
A simple bandwidth monitor for Linux or other systems with /proc/net/dev.

She used up all my darned bandwidth!

She used up all my darned bandwidth! 01/03/2005 03:08 AM
Xeni Jardin: Those being the words of Michael Verdi -- father of "Youngest Videoblogger In the World" Dylan Verdi, who was featured in last week's ABC News segment about bloggers as "People of The Year." Mr. Verdi has just posted this short "the making of" movie which explains how his 11-year-old daughter became an accidental pheblogenomenon in the span of 24 hours last week. Hey, the kid's gotta be alright -- she's listening to the same record I was at eleven, and on vinyl too.

Link to Michael Verdi's QuickTime movie, and Link to video of last week's ABC News segment. (Thanks, Wonbo!)

Bandwidth Monitor NG 0.1

Bandwidth Monitor NG 0.1 09/07/2004 08:21 AM
A simple bandwidth monitor for Linux or other systems with /proc/net/dev.

Cutting Bandwidth Needs

Cutting Bandwidth Needs 12/07/2002 09:31 AM
"...suggestions for cutting bandwidth, particularly in a mostly text-based environment?"

Bandwidth to spare?

Bandwidth to spare? 08/02/2004 08:26 PM
It has been some time since we last asked for more mirrors. It is time to do so again. Fink is very grateful for the resources granted to us by our community. To further improve our service to the community we require an even better mirror system. We especially lack mirrors in central Europe, Russia and the Far East. If you feel that you have at least two Mbit to spare for a rsync mirror or more to offer a distfiles mirror please contact us. To get a better understanding of the different types of mirrors Fink offers, please go and review finkmirrors.net. This is the official homepage for all mirror related issues. If you feel that you can offer other types of resources, web-space for testing as an example, please do not hestitate in contacting us as well.

Why Microsoft Should Fear Bandwidth

Why Microsoft Should Fear Bandwidth 01/02/2005 11:38 AM

Why bandwidth should scare Microsoft

Why bandwidth should scare Microsoft 01/04/2005 11:03 AM
More users than ever use broadband connections at home these days. Though it will take time, these connections will do nothing but get faster. With companies figuring out seemingly every day how to cram more information down the same pipes, and new options like fixed wireless and fiber to the door becoming available, connectivity options for the average consumer are ever-expanding, and with them, the speeds available.

BT introducing bandwidth limits

BT introducing bandwidth limits 07/06/2004 06:29 AM

Have You Fought Your ISP Over Bandwidth
Limits?

Have You Fought Your ISP Over Bandwidth
Limits? 12/16/2003 01:40 PM
serutan asks: "Recently, a DC++-related mailing list I subscribe to has been buzzing with posts about letters from various ISPs in the U.S., UK, Australia and ...

Nextel and FCC Swap Bandwidth

Nextel and FCC Swap Bandwidth 07/08/2004 07:16 PM

Linux BandWidth tool

Linux BandWidth tool 12/27/2004 05:08 AM
BandWidth-tool version 0.9.1-rc1 released!!

SMS FAQ: How do SMS Senders Calculate
Available Bandwidth?

SMS FAQ: How do SMS Senders Calculate
Available Bandwidth? 12/26/2004 05:16 AM

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 7.61

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 7.61 12/23/2003 12:54 PM
A turn-key tool to distribute bandwidth on busy networks.

Counting bandwidth usage in PHP

Counting bandwidth usage in PHP 08/05/2004 03:48 AM
Here's a question: is it possible, given a bunch of videofiles on your server, to keep track of bandwidth usage with PHP (+ Apache, Linux)? Maybe something like mod_throttle/3.1.2 can help? I am thinking through different ways of dynamically generating different SMIL files (with PHP) based on how much ...

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 9.51

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 9.51 07/31/2004 03:55 AM
A turn-key tool to distribute bandwidth on busy networks.

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 9.61

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 9.61 08/20/2004 02:53 AM
A turn-key tool to distribute bandwidth on busy networks.

RSS Bandwidth and Gzip compression

RSS Bandwidth and Gzip compression 01/03/2004 04:35 PM
There are several ways to cut down on the amount of bandwidth your RSS feeds use.

The very best way is to make sure your server returns 304 Not Modified responses. (See HTTP Conditional Get for RSS Hackers for more details.)

But today I’m talking about another method (which should be used in addition to conditional Get): gzip compression.

The idea is simple: the server compresses the feed before returning it to your newsreader. This means less bandwidth is used because fewer bytes are transferred.

One of the nice things about this is that if a given newsreader doesn’t support gzip compression, a server will return an uncompressed feed, so you’re not locking anybody out. But it turns out that lots of newsreaders do support gzip compression, so it really is worth the effort. (Ted Leung has been maintaining a list of which newsreaders support it.)

Today I (finally) turned on gzip compression for my feeds. (Here’s a handy page you can use to check for gzip compression on any URL.)

Since my feeds are generated by PHP, I used Dean Allen’s super-easy instructions for turning on gzip compression. If your feeds are static files (which is probably the best choice) then you can probably use Apache’s mod_gzip or mod_deflate.

Explaining DDR Memory Bandwidth

Explaining DDR Memory Bandwidth 07/20/2004 07:57 AM

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 8.6

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 8.6 07/13/2004 05:30 PM
A turn-key tool to distribute bandwidth on busy networks.

Who wants 3G high-bandwidth services?

Who wants 3G high-bandwidth services? 02/16/2004 10:34 PM
Computer Weekly Feb 17 2004 2:16AM GMT

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 7.74

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 7.74 02/17/2004 11:55 PM
A turn-key tool to distribute bandwidth on busy networks.

Optimizing Bandwidth at Microsoft

Optimizing Bandwidth at Microsoft 06/29/2004 11:39 PM
To successfully manage wide area network demand and escalating operating costs at Microsoft, Microsoft IT assembled a small, dedicated team, tasked with identifying and implementing ways to improve engineering, operating, and management efficiencies for overall bandwidth consumption. Their goals were to increase network efficiency by 12 percent and reduce costs by nine percent. Through strategies such as the rigorous auditing of existing bandwidth usage, and more accurate forecasting of future bandwidth needs, existing capacity was utilized more efficiently and costs reduced.

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 7.32

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 7.32 12/03/2003 01:22 PM
A turn-key tool to distribute bandwidth on busy networks.

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 8.24

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 8.24 06/25/2004 10:32 AM
A turn-key tool to distribute bandwidth on busy networks.

Relieving Your Bandwidth Migraine

Relieving Your Bandwidth Migraine 07/29/2004 02:56 AM
T1 Lines, T3s, DSL, Cable, Wireless solutions… Where is technology taking us next, and how do we find the right solution? The world of telecommunications is constantly changing. New technologies, improved and upgraded products and services, and new companies added to the landscape have brought forth many business changes in the form of mergers, acquisitions, price changes, and expanded markets. Demand for voice and data solutions, increased bandwidth at faster speeds, mobile environments, and less-expensive solutions continues to grow at an enormous pace, especially in the business community. The difficulty comes in keeping up with what is coming next. [PRWEB Jul 29, 2004]

How To Reduce Web Hosting Bandwidth

How To Reduce Web Hosting Bandwidth 09/13/2002 01:34 PM
Stickysauce Sep 13 2002 12:16PM ET

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 2.0

Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator 2.0 03/15/2003 02:56 AM
A turn-key tool to distribute bandwidth on busy networks.

RSS readers and bandwidth consumption

RSS readers and bandwidth consumption 05/04/2004 12:32 PM

Wired recently asked wh ether RSS readers will clog the Web, raising concerns about bandwidth problems associated with RSS. While these concerns are valid, they're really less about RSS and more about the poor design of some RSS readers. So, I'd like to point out how FeedDemon was designed to minimize bandwidth consumption.

The primary concern is how often RSS readers download feeds to check for new items. After all, if a feed is updated once a day, there's a huge waste of bandwidth if RSS readers are downloading the feed every few minutes. However, a well-designed RSS reader won't download the entire feed if it hasn't been modified - instead, it will do as FeedDemon does and utilize HTTP If-Modified-Since and If-None-Match (ETag) requests. If the feed hasn't changed, then the server simply returns a 304: Not Modified response, which requires very little bandwidth. FeedDemon also supports GZIP compression and it remembers redirects, which further reduces bandwidth consumption.

FeedDemon honors the RSS <ttl> element, which enables feed authors to state how often the feed should be updated. FeedDemon won't allow setting a feed's update frequency lower than the <ttl>, so be sure to use this element in your feed if you're concerned about unnecessary bandwidth consumption. In addition, FeedDemon honors the <sk ipdays> and <skiphours> elements.

And I should add that FeedDemon defaults to checking for updates every three hours, not every few minutes. Users can set the update frequency lower than this (provided it's not lower than the feed's <ttl>), but in my experience, few users actually do this.

So, while RSS bandwidth consumption is a valid concern, it's a concern that I addressed from the very start when designing FeedDemon.

Cutting that old Bandwidth Bloat

Cutting that old Bandwidth Bloat 05/05/2004 10:46 PM
"Does anyone have more suggestions of things I can do to shave off more bandwidth? Anything I'm maybe overlooking right now that I could be doing?"

Linux Bandwidth Arbitration

Linux Bandwidth Arbitration 03/16/2003 12:18 PM
Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator Demo at Linux Fest

MemoryLink Displays Bandwidth-in-a-Box

MemoryLink Displays Bandwidth-in-a-Box 04/07/2005 05:39 PM
MemoryLink's new secure, high-bandwidth portable video system makes its U.S. debut at the ISC West security conference in Las Vegas.

Bandwidth Management Tools 0-1-3

Bandwidth Management Tools 0-1-3 10/30/2003 04:58 AM
A total bandwidth management solution for Linux.
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The Bandwidth Math on RSS

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