Tag Archives: Rant

Rant, Technology

The Second Coming of the Jesus Phone – 7/11/2008 – 3G iPhone

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With the summer here, all your big and essential technology shows are abound. You have the Computex show out in Taiwan being the big one for computer hardware and E3 for the gaming folks. However, if you’re an Apple fanatic, WWDC is the most noteworthy to you. This year has been no slouch either. If you are a big phone fanatic like yours-truly, then obviously you know that this year’s WWDC has the second revision on Apple’s new “killer handheld”, the 3G iPhone.

iPhone Announcement

For some, this is the boat that a number of frustrated Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Nokia S60 users have been waiting for. The inclusion of 3G cellular baseband chips, A-GPS functionality, and a few more things are just a few of the things that many iPhone naysayers and bashers had picked on the first iteration iPhone. This announcement has not shaken down some of the other competitors just yet, as far as I know. I have not seen any price breaks from manufacturers like HTC et al from the WWDC announcement, but then again, it may not matter to them because they may have a pocket ace up their sleeve thay may not be known to the masses yet. (The Touch Diamond is rather prohibitive at $700+ at the moment, eh? – Zero)

iPhone Profile Shots

Notice this time that there’s a curvature to the back of the iPhone, much like a Palm Treo. The device comes in two colors, black and white. The colors signify the device’s storage capacity: black being an 8GB and white being 16GB. This also signifies a change in how the device is built. The aluminum back of the first iPhone is a thing of the past, the back of the 3G iPhone is plastic. Some fans on the web have speculated the curvature and plastic back are more to accomodate the fun new additions of circuitry inside the phone.

The new iPhone boasts that it will be using the new 2.0 software improving the user experience with features such as a customizable Home Screen, the App Store, a Map App that can use BOTH A-GPS and cell tower and/or wi-fi hotspots to triangulate data. For those enterprising corporate users who are jonesing for a tricked out phone but were sadly disappointed in the lack of support for Microsoft Exchange server for their jobs, the new rendition of the iPhone has added support for syncing up to Microsoft Exchange servers. Early or late first generation iPhone owners can still get in on the some of these features with the new iPhone 2.0 software update, so they are not quite left out in the cold.

If you want to behold more of the features about the iPhone, check out the Official Apple iPhone page (Link)! Need more visual porn? Check out the new iPhone gallery link here.

“What about the pricing information? How bad will AT&T rape me for service?” are probably the next questions for curious 3G iPhone buyers seeing to get their hands one one and possibly escape their old provider. Let’s break into the leaked confidential bulletin posted up by Boy Genius Report and find out, shall we?

Before we pick through the plans… Let me make this one point from the confidential bulletin loud and clear for you curious readers: In America, there is no way to buy the 3G iPhone without committing to AT&T and GoPhone customers are not permitted to buy them for GoPhone use either. I repeat, you cannot just buy an iPhone without a plan even in the Apple Stores. In other countries, you may be able to purchase an unlocked iPhone due to anti-competition agreements, but not much information is known on that. The caveat for the American market is that due to this closer partnership between AT&T and Apple is that now AT&T can finally subsidize the iPhone to an entry price of $199 for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB model. A very gutsy move as this puts the iPhone right at the same price points as AT&T’s corporate communicator market. HTC, Pantech, Palm, and RIM Blackberry devices be damned, AT&T basically created an internal smartphone war within their ranks! This has me curious as to how RIM, Palm,and HTC will play their cards in America, but that’s another discussion… 😉 for later this week.

Let’s go over the major points quoted from the Boy Genius Report post:

  • iPhone 3G will be activated at point of sale when the device is purchased in store.
  • Return period has been changed from 14 days to 30 days
  • $199 and $299 pricing is for new activations or qualified upgrades with a 2-year agreement
  • 2G iPhone data rate plans will remain available for 2G device suntil further notice
  • The new iPhone 3G data plan is $30/month and includes unlimited data and visual voicemail
  • There is not a no commitment price. This means you can’t just walk in and bang $500 on your credit card and walk out.
  • If you are an existing iPhone customer in good standing, you will be able to extend your contract for two years when the iPhone 3G launches and get the ill-na-na $199/$299 price point. Doesn’t matter when you bought an iPhone either.
  • AT&T and Apple stores “unbrick” the iPhone 3G at time of purchase, but for some reason if that doesn’t happen, you’ll be required to use iTunes at home.
  • Pre-paid and Pick Your Plan will not be allowed on iPhone 3G
  • Device purchase limit remains at (3) per customer in AT&T stores.
  • Launch day will mirror last year’s launch. This includes extended store hours, crowd controls, etc. Security will be provided to stores requesting armed police or guards.
  • AT&T is working with Apple to roll out GPS-enabled applications.

One of the first things I noticed as a definite step to progress is the in-store activation. I had read a few accounts online about some people having trouble with doing the activation at home due to the servers timing out and having to activate their phones a few days after purchasing an iPhone. This ensures that end users will have a working phone on purchase instead of angry users griping that their new toy is useless until the server can activate their device.

The purchase of an iPhone will require an iPhone data plan. The unlimited personal plan starts at $30 with any qualifying voice plan, however if you need to link with corporate e-mail accounts… you’ll need to front $45 per month for the enterprise data plan. My assumption is that a “qualifying” voice plan is a plan that is priced at least $39.99 and has 600 anytime minutes. As far as the press release from AT&T goes, there’s no mention if the unlimited iPhone data plans will include any text messaging… but that could change come July 11, 2008. As far as AT&T’s texting plans go, that could range from $14.99 – $19.99. So about $30 (estimated) for the lowest qualifying voice plan, $30 for the unlimited personal e-mail, web and visual voicemail package, and then $15 for the texting plan. A rough grand total of $75 before miscellaneous taxes and service charges would be due on the billing date; possibly around $80 – $82 after those charges. That’s decently competitive to an individual corporate user with a smartphone or Blackberry configured in the same manner. This combined with the subsidized price of the iPhone actually gives AT&T some leg room to fight. If they combine texting with different tiering of iPhone data packages, like the unlimited personal data plan being able to also get unlimited texting for a total of $80 before taxes, this may give providers like T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon more incentive to step up to the plate and really be creative.

Tune in tomorrow when I’ll play Devil’s Advocate and spin my thoughts from the anti-iPhone camp from the eyes of the T-Mobile/Sprint/Verizon/HTC/Palm/RIM side of things. This will actually be a 3-part series of things. The floor is now open to any pro-iPhone comments. If you have hate or bones to pick with the iPhone, save your energy for tomorrow.

Personal, Rant

[Editorial] Empowering Debilitating Words

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A while back… My dear friend dare2dreamer had told me quite the interesting anecdote that involved the skill-toy folks. The tale was quite interesting and I thought the resolution that came to it was quite good!

One of my friends had posted a video of his demos online and some egotistical fellow out in New York basically slammed him for his demo. This person went as far as picking out “flaws” in my friend’s demo and even went as far as calling him “mediocre” and his skills “amateur”. Of course, this bothered my friend… however, the guy out in New York claimed he was doing skill-toy stuff on a professional level and made claims that the mediocre skills would not be taken seriously. I decided to pick apart the “professionals” use of the word “mediocre” and decided to re-spin it as a positive. We were joking around and going “I’m mediocre!” with enthusiasm. In essence, we turned the word mediocre from meaning “ordinary” to “awesome”. We may even go as far as making t-shirts just for kicks and have my friend do another demo video of his skills with the t-shirt. In all seriousness, it should have never gone this far.

With regard to this uplifting tale, I can see how we as humans can let debilitating testimony get us down. I know with personal experience that I have let too many trample on me just for the sake of their own glory to just simply gloat “I am better/faster/stronger/[insert misc adj. here] than you.” I have been spinning attacks made on me to a better light, because honestly… what’s the point of getting disturbed with pathetic and cheap-shot attacks? The next time you encounter someone taking a cheap shot at you by saying something that is derogatory… Turn it into something much better!

After all… We’re all mediocre! 😀

Edit: Get your “Mediocre” and “Am I Mediocre Yet” Apparel below!

“Am I Mediocre Yet?” Shop
“Mediocre” Shop

Personal, Rant

Damn Vehicular Envy and Lust, We Meet Again!

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Machinery and throttle have been in my blood since I was a wee lad… Most of my fans know that I had a very modest Acura Integra sedan as my “intro” car. I had observed and assisted my father with repairing his cars, so naturally my interest in cars is profound from watching the machinery evolve from a primitive rat’s nest to a very neat compacted power plant with wiring and hose work that almost looks beautiful. Sure, the bodies of cars have seen some bad days where you have designers butcher misshape metal into abominations… at the same time, you also have artisans trying to push the limits for new styles but embracing traditions.

I made the foolish mistake of thinking I could turn a project car into a daily driver… but it was one hell of a lesson. The majority of the foolishness was the fact that I was desiring too much for a return to my days of glory. Oh well, one day I will have my chance to revive Project Phoenix and relive my old days…

Continue reading Damn Vehicular Envy and Lust, We Meet Again! →

Personal, Rant

[Rant] Humanity, Thou Art Not as Sacred as Thy Claims…

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Proceed with Caution

Disclaimer: I am not a proponent of religion over science nor am I a part of a Buddhist sect. This is just a personal musing I happened to stumble on.

Last night, I got into a rather heated debate with a few friends of mine in regards to religion and how so many people are lacking in their faith in the modern day. Sure, we have science, but does it eliminate that there are forces beyond our own that we should revere and respect? It got my friends talking on how people almost have become egocentric with how society has advanced more and more in technology. Conversely, when the world turns topsy-turvey to these same people, they start spouting off something close to the following rhetoric:

Dear God, I am (in) [insert random expletive phrase here]. I pray to God that I am not [insert expletive here]. I never wanted it to become like that! Please God, help me!

Continue reading [Rant] Humanity, Thou Art Not as Sacred as Thy Claims… →

Personal, Rant, Technology

CompUSA Somehow Got a Resurrection and They are Cool, Somewhat.

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So… boredom struck me and ever since I have been addicted to Voice Command on my HTC Kaiser, I have found it somewhat interesting to have it read out my text messages while driving. Just my Bluetooth headset was good, but it didn’t quite match up to my Kaiser. I decided to check out the “NEW” CompUSA, as it seemed like they had been given new life by a managing corporation…

On walking in… I was surprised they were trying to come off more like a Best Buy, albeit smaller and more controlled. I was more interested in scoping out the Bluetooth headsets and I was a bit shocked to see unlocked GSM phones for sale. Brand new phones, completely unlocked, and unbranded. No pushy sales reps trying to cram a contract down your throat either.

It was interesting seeing the shop in a new light as their prices are far more reasonable than before. It was bad when they tried to be the guys at the top and fall, but personally, if they can keep to the new principles… they may just succeed.

Personal, Rant

A Well of Souls – Parkland Hospital, Zombies, and the Decline of my Sanity

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Last night was interesting… My friend Amanda from the Ubuntu Dallas group called up and basically said “Zero… I think I have a true medical emergency, but I cannot pay for the services.” So my gut basically says “Parkland, stat!” and I would have her come down to shuttle her off to Parkland. I would call Brandon to see if he still wanted to meet up with us as he said he wanted to make sure Amanda was ok. Traffic wasn’t bad for once and getting there was easy once the adrenaline wore off of me.

We were checked in by about 8pm but well… as you’ll see from the enclosed “log” from my phone, I quickly lost my sanity after Brandon left. Behold my sanity passing through me like running water!

So tonight has been interesting. I am writing this post from my P990i at about 1:45am at Parkland. Why am I at one of D-town’s welfare hospitals? She had a potentially life threatening emergency that I wanted to see them through, but they have no insurance. I had heard stories of Parkland but today I got to enter the lion’s den and see for myself. Brandon wished to join and wish her well. I would get in at about 7:30pm, she would get the initial prognosis to evaluate the severity of her predicament. Then we would be transferred to the emergency clinic and the first sets of paper work and blood tests were done around 10pm. We have been waiting since for check-in.

Brandon’s threshold gave way to his need for sleep so he has left. My quads are murdering me. My only sustenance have been a stick of Os Trim, a Little Debbie nutty bar, and 2 bottles of Dasani water. Sad part, I’ll probably have to submit another cheat meal today. Damn Parkland for having a McDonald’s within their facilities. The sounds of exhausted patients waiting almost as long as we have snoring in their sleep almost sounds like ZOMBIES!!! (Zero – Damn you, Brandon) It is a travesty to wait this long just for health care?

It’s a shame when it takes forever to be rendered care. Medicine is one thing that I love dearly, but to see it down and out is almost vulgar. It’s like looking at a painting that has been vandalized in vain.

Well, it’s now 5am and I am still waiting with Amanda. What the hell is this?! This is abso-fucking-lutely atrocious! I am about to FUCKING crash! This is borderline unacceptable! I understand that Parkland is horrible, but this is beyond my expectations! This is motherfucking BULLSHIT!

As you can witness… My sanity was just quickly hitting the garbage can from my short temper due to the utter frustration.

By about 7:45am, she would finally be seen. The visit only took literally 10-15 minutes. They were able to completely assess and evaluate everything without an issue. This angered me highly… It took 12 hours for her to get checked and it turned out that it wasn’t even that extensive that they had pushed her that far to the back burner? Absolutely ridiculous! There were other patients in the clinic waiting room thinking the same thing… “Why are they so busy with bullshit when they could at least have one nurse or doctor treating quick cases?!” was one of the more common things I heard.

After she had the Rx in her hand… we’d find that the clinic pharmacy didn’t want to dispense the drug because it was a $4 generic at a local Target or Wal-Mart. After running to a Target and getting the drugs, I would be more glad that she could finally begin the road to recovery. Luckily, she had nipped her ills in the bud before they would have seriously had her on an antibiotic drip and possibly a stay over.

The experience at Parkland Hospital did have some humor in it. The McDonald’s inside the hospital. Yes… that’s right… INSIDE!!! They serve up the goods 24 hours or so I am lead to believe. The funny part is that any cardiac patients must have consent by their physician to eat the greasy painful goodness. Gotta love the irony of a fast food idol rooted in a hospital!

I’ll have images of my adventures and a damn near 12 hour comparison of me at the beginning versus the end… but that won’t be until tomorrow or whenever I am more awake than I am now.

Personal, Rant

Entering the Nightmare

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I did have a huge post I was going to throw up before work about my heroism for a friend, but well… that may be delayed for a good while. Apparently, being a hero to a friend doesn’t matter. Especially when the medical emergency call happened randomly and you’re more pumped on adrenaline rather than reasonable thought. I understand that I should have called, but my friend was in the hospital scared to death about a potentially threatening problem to their health. Maybe it was “wrong” for me to play an angel of mercy for my panicked and fearful friend… but if it must become a petty argument on how my heroism is invalid because I am still covered in debt… then I will say that is a ludicrous argument.

Maybe I am a little too compassionate for a friend in fear. I had my buddy, Brandon, with me to help comfort her. Sometimes we all start small and for my friend… She had no one to assist because of a terrible circumstance. I did my part and if I get the blame for it, then I just have to take it in stride. Well, time for me to walk into work and try to purge myself of losing a fight with family to justify my heroic actions.

If anyone wants to say thanks or offer their words of encouragement, you’re more than welcome to do so.  It would help with the pain of my “shame” right now.

Rant

What’s the Big Deal with Valentine’s Day? [Editorial]

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Valentine’s Day in America is one of the most busy days for flower shops and confectionery specialty shops. Flowers, cards, and candy are abound all over. The occasional fool how has messed up romantically and frantically trying to find a gift can be quite the humorous sight to see. Lovers usually book up all the reservations to the nice restaurants… Of course, with human nature and all, there are those seeking to get lucky after the vast show of romance. 😉 The single folks will lament or just roll their eyes… Though the perverse have “struck back” at the ideal of romance and made a counter-thesis to Valentines Day called “Steak and Blowjob Day [NOT SAFE FOR WORK!]“.

Wikipedia’s article on Valentine’s Day is interesting as it shows the origins of the event being very ritualistic rather than the romantic event we know now. Check out this piece below in the block-quote:

Lupercalia, of which many write that it was anciently celebrated by shepherds, and has also some connection with the Arcadian Lycaea. At this time many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck, believing that the pregnant will thus be helped in delivery, and the barren to pregnancy.
Source: Wikipedia article on Valentine’s Day

For those who want a lazy Cliff’s Note’s summary of the excerpt above… Men basically got stripped down naked while wielding thongs to whip and slap women for fun and laughs, while women got in the way of the herd of naked men in hopes to be impregnated in the fertility ritual of Lupercalia. Not really a flowers, love notes, and sweets sort of image for our modern day concept of Valentine’s Day. From the Wikipedia article again, the streets were anointed in the sacrificial blood of 2 wolves and 1 dog for the festival. Lucky for the civilized world that we don’t have the festival of Lupercalia every February 15th, because random wanton sex in public with folks that should NOT be naked in public would be rather disgusting.

The article also goes more into detail about the event was more about courtly love and friendship, rather than the material aspect of it. Yes, originally, trolling for tail was typically not the ultimate goal. Recognition of friends is one of the focuses of Valentine’s Day in elementary school. I was not the “popular” kids, but I got my fair share of cards from being a stand up person. Though I have heard some stories where there have been cruel or mean spirited kids making concerted efforts to make the unpopular kid a cast out by making sure they get no cards or ones with cruel messages. That causing some school teachers to enact policies to ensure that kindness is promoted.

On the commercialism tangent, you can’t go but about half a step and you hear some ad about Valentine’s items on sale at a local retailer. Hell, the retail jewelry business laps up Valentine’s Day due to the fact misconception that you “need” jewelry to put a physical representation of love on the person you’re enamored with. Card companies like Hallmark and Carlton Cards make a killing in profits when cards run about $5 – $7 a piece depending on decorations and other miscellaneous things tacked on to them. Is it really worth the trouble to fight all that mess just to express one’s feelings? Personally, I don’t think so.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, people should be considerate to those who are single. There’s nothing wrong with being in love, but at the same time it doesn’t hurt to cheer up those who are single. With how most people in the States are so centric on Valentine’s Day being a “holiday” about the ideal of romance, the secondary meaning of friendship is just completely lost. We can all joke about Valentine’s Day being known as “Single’s Awareness Day”, but the truth is we should be aware of those who are single. For some single folks, the day could serve as a jumping point to meeting that special someone.

Play nice and be merry on Valentine’s Day, no material gift should be a “prerequisite” for love and romance. Just think about it… Lupercalia could make a freaky comeback with the random wanton sex in public.

Rant, Technology

“I, for one, welcome our new Robot Overlords” – The Intarw3b 0wnZ j00

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Privacy, a hallmark thing that Americans do value. In many other nations, the right to privacy is pretty much null and void. In an era where people fear information leaks (like the TJ Maxx incident with its aftermath), privacy online has become an issue that is pretty serious. Google co-founder Larry Page tried to keep his wedding details a secret from Google’s indexing but that ended up being a bust. Initially, no one really took mind to the internet storing our information… but with how the times are changing, there are companies who make a buck off of caching as much information as they can about anyone. Check out sites like Spock if you want to understand what I mean.

People are lacking confidence in the internet with stories like our own national government losing laptops making headlines. It doesn’t help that companies like ABC and CBS have made documentaries  showing that there is an illegal underground trade for “identities” online from internet forums and such. Couple how easy it is to obtain personal information with tools like Google and it becomes like a modern day version of “Big Brother is watching you”.

When you have the government pushing the idea of:

You give out plenty of information to us, what’s the harm of letting companies making a buck off of harvesting that information?

It almost parallels why people are not comfortable with the concept that if you are currently under the age of 50, you must get a mandatory national ID that has embedded technology. These national ID cards would be used (for example) to check in at a bar and keep a record of your tab of what you had consumed.

I personally feel that unethical law enforcement officers could potentially abuse that information for entrapment purposes. Nothing like having 2 beers, 7 shots of liquor and maybe a round of whiskey on the rocks but to stay and sober up… then on driving 2 miles away from the restaurant (sober), a cop stops you and decides to entrap you for a DUI or DWI.

There’s another side to this issue… If this national ID card has wireless technologies, an identity thief with a laptop and signal scanner could just read every person’s information until they find the perfect “replacement identity”. Add the ability of Google’s indexing and the identity thief can create the perfect alibi.

Google’s ambiguous privacy policy does not lend itself very well to the end user. The short story of it: “We can hold on to your information as long as we want. You can’t really do much about it.” This has not been received well in nations Europe where they have required that Google must comply to their laws and clearly state a defined period that they intend to hold onto records of what a European user does on Google. Sadly, the concern for privacy has not hit the minds of American users. We’re worried over rising gas prices or why the fast food joint’s value menu has less good and edible food rather than our digital civil liberties being encroached on.

I would dare to say that if Thomas Jefferson were alive and saw how we’ve given up our rights just from fear… He’d probably put a 9mm bullet in his head. When a nation has allowed it’s leaders to trespass on our rights, then we have forgotten the meaning of “Old Glory”.  This is not the nation that our forefathers died for.

Rant

Editorial/Opinion: Telling Pre-Pubescent Girls that Pubes are BAD! What is wrong with this?

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Why 10 is too young for your first Brazilian – Opinion – theage.com.au

I found this article on Digg a few days back and for some reason, it gives me an unsavory feeling that society may need to think about why pedophile are a threat to their children. It’s one thing that modern pornography tries to highlight women who are well shaved or groomed on their good bits, but it is another when a commercial company (allied to a governmental girl-empowerment site) decides to paint a broad opinion that a body function is perceived as bad just to make a buck off the new generation. I know that this hasn’t quite hit stateside, but it almost freaks me out a bit that society in general seems to be in the mindset of “the younger the better!” The pedophile bit is probably the least of society’s concerns though… well, depending on your personal stances. (The argument seems null and void in some countries where pubic hair is a sign of natural fertility and that shaving it off is a mark of shame)

Now, don’t get me wrong… Grown women do have the right to groom their neither regions as they see fit. Be it trimmed, stylized into cheesy shapes (hearts, stars, horseshoes), or waxed bald, because they are adults. What also sickens me about the article that I linked from The Age (AU) is something that mass media is trying to push… girls need to be like supermodels from the start and maintain that image or a future prospective boyfriend/husband will never consider them. Girls don’t need petty issues like waxing their pubes and legs at the age of 10. At the age of 10, they should be concerned about living as children and having fun. If a parent has no idea that there are magazines teaching “tweens” (the definition by Trend Central is a child age 8 – 13) how to find a boyfriend/girlfriend and fashion faux pas, then they need to be a more positive impact and empower them to be children rather than impish emulations of adults. In an era where malnutrition, anorexia, bulimia, and laxative abuse are things that people turn to just to attain supermodel “perfection”, it is a shame when the impressionable minds of children become tainted to these methods to become “beautiful” in some grotesque manner.

The last thing this world needs are 10 – 15 year old children who have bald neither regions and are malnourished “knockoffs” of Lindsey Lohan or any other woman out there. Heaven forbid that everyone needs a million dollar baby with paparazzi trying to spy on your family every moment.