I Think I'm Turning Japanese

Hey gang, go check out my continued posts at Japanese Telecom.

God Kills TV

How much TV do you watch any more? She wen to art school to spite her parents and prove to herself that she was different. He wore dirty jeans, a cheap t-shirt, but had $1000 Ferragamo loafers. A man has to be pimpin' in his shoes.

Is jPod a sequel to Microserfs?

Baud is a nostalgic word from 1995 when Microsoft was still the plucky little underdog. I don't think I've been meeting enough people? I don't think you've been completely truthful with me"

"What do you mean? What the fuck do you mean?" she shouted.

"You're a liar. I believe that you are a liar and you've told me so many lies that even the truths are stained and false".

They staired at each other and moved their chests like a marathon runner finding his second wind. Anger was buzzing in both of their ears and John could feel his blood pressure rising enough to make him think twice about it. They could hear traffic in the distance and they both wanted to be somebody else far away than standing here, right now, in this awkward situation.

When I first saw the BlackBerry 8100 "Pearl" a little piece of me whispered "You complete me". Unfortunately, the Pearl came out on the T-Mobile network which is probably the worst mobile network in San Antonio. I saw a C|Net commercial in which Douglas Coupland is sitting in a really cool study and he's looking down at his thumb which is feeling up the full frontal nudity of the negresse techno skin of the Pearl. "Douglas Coupland uses the Pearl" a voice over announces. Damn! I wish I could use the Pearl, but when I was in Dallas I couldn't get a signal in the damn hotel I was staying in. Not for a single moment! I couldn't get a signal to call my wife, receive my email or send photos back home.

"Never go on eBay shopping drunk!" - Douglas Coupland

***The previous post was written while I was extremely tired and listening to a Canadian radio talk show host interview novelist Douglas Coupland.

Sprint or Verizon

So right now I'm paying several differnt phone bills to several different carriers and I'm getting tired of throwing little bits of money in different directions; I'd rather throw a whole lot of money in one specific direction.

I know that I want need to go with an CDMA/EVDO carrier, so that means either Sprint or Verizon. But which one.

Verizon is a Mac-friendly company when it comes to their EVDO data cards and they were the first to market with a PCI Express/34 card that would work with the MacBook Pro (if only I had a MacBook Pro). Verizon also boasts the widest coverage of any single carrier. The major downside: completely uninspiring hardware. Verizon has not brought a phone to market that has excited to me since they launched their version of the Motorola V60. I was psyched when they brought the Moto Q to market, but I actually bought that phone and returned it within my 14 day buyer's remorse period.

Sprint is not as Mac-friendly, but I don't think I would call them Mac-haters. I don't even know if Sprint knows their is such a computer company known as Apple. The strong point with Sprint is that instead of building more and more towers (a la Verizon) they are lighting newer towers that support EVDO Rev A. Rev A is supposed to be an upgrade to the current standard of EVDO and gives subscribers a suitable boost on up/down speeds. Sprint also dropped the Novatel Ovation 720 USB modem, which would be perfect for a MacBook owner. Their handsets are far from cutting edge, but they over some cool and useful features, such as On Demand.

I don't know which carrier I'm going with just yet, and when I do pick a carrier, I don't know if I'm going to go with a Treo/BlackBerry or just a regular handset. I do know that if I activate with Verizon, I'd like to get the Samsung a990 3.2 MPixel camera phone. Friggin' sweet.

Mobile Phone

So I'm kind of a gadget whore. And working at a multi-carrier cell phone store is a like a heroin addict working at the methadone clinic. Needless to say, after working there for a few months I've had contracts with T-Mobile and Verizon and have current subscriptions with Cingular, Sprint, Nextel and Helio. I'm tired of paying so many phone bills and I'm trying to decide on one phone company to consolidate all of my lines (me, wife, mother, grandmother, PowerBook).

Here's how the carriers are breaking down:

• T-Mobile: Probably the coolest phones (see the Samsung t629 and the BlackBerry 8100) but the service is probably the weekest of all the major carriers (my opinion)


• Cingular: Excellent coverage, offers "roll over", but GSM/EDGE carriers are at an automatic disadvantage compared to the CDMA/EVDO carriers. UTMS not on any of the smart phones. Dissapointed by uninspired interpretation of the UK's Treo 680.


• Verizon: Probably the strongest data coverage (arguable) and a Mac-friendly company puts it on top. Phones are totally uninspiring. Service is more expensive.


• Sprint: Sprint is my main carrier right now. I have the Treo 700p on an AR plan and get 3000 anytime minutes with unlimited data for only $20 a month. Sprint only has me approved for 3 lines as opposed to 5 lines with all the other carriers.


• Nextel: I'm a big fan of Nextel. I think they are an interesting company that offers useful features and solid phones. I don't know if wife, mother and grandmother would like carrying the bulky handsets around.

I'd like to move everybody to Verizon becaue of the fact that they are a Mac-friendly company, but than I'm on the hook for paying early termination fees for two lines on Cingular, one on Helio and one on Nextel. That's a lot of money just to get out of a contract. Ouch!

Sky Harbor WiFi

Phoenix is more of a conglomeration of suburbs that have lost it's center of gravity and have clung together trying to achieve some level of socio-economic equilibrium. This search for life in the desert has given the citizens and government of the valley a thirst for innovation and achievement. Keep in mind that I'm not a economist, political scientist or anthropologist; I've come to this conclusion simpy by the fact that Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport has free WiFi!. Did you read that: f-r-e-e W-i-F-i. Being a mobile warrior, finding any place that offers a free stream of 802.11x is like a nomad finding an oasis in the middle of the Sahara. Sweet, delicious and refreshing WAN!

San Antonio International (SAI) has a WiFi signal that is detectably and misleadingly labels it "WiFi4Public" or something like that. However, when you open your browser it takes you a page that asks you to input a credit card for either per/hour useage, a day pass or a monthly membership. Whatever? WiFi is like water or light, I don't mind paying for it for my own house, because I have to, but I expect every other place to offer comparable accomodations at no extra charge. Oh, when will SA ever figure it out.

I wonder how it is in Austin? I'm sure I could find a listing of free Wifi sites in Austin, but I'd prefer to drive up there and try them for myself.

Anyway, kudos to the city of Phoenix for somehow figuring out how to sustain life in the inhospitable sandbox of the Southwestern United States; and for keeping life well connected while it's doing it!

Phoenix

I'm in Phoenix tonight. Nothing much to blog about. An uneventful flight. Dinner with Joseph and Curtis at Claim Jumpers (I recommend the Widow Maker Burger). Tomorrow is a tax analysis seminar that I'll try to make it through without falling asleep or tearing my hair out. It's nights like this that really make me want to go back to school and get my degree in Computer Science.