Carousel of Hate

I have been considering the iPhone for the first time after the announcement of iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0 software.  Before that I was more than happy to stick with the wonderful handsets from Sony Ericsson.I am presently using T-Mobile and I have been on their network for over seven years.  My services are as follows:

•  5000 Minutes $99.99
• Buddy time (Unlimited text and Mobile to Mobile) $10.00
• T-Zones (Unlimited 2.5G data on handset) $5.99
• Monthly Total $115.98

On AT&T with the equivalent services my bill would look as follows:

• Unlimited Voice/3G Data $129.99 
• Unlimited Text $20.00
• Monthly Total $149.99

The AT&T rates do not even include sending text messages outside the US.  T-Mobile charges $0.15 per message to send an international text and the incoming messages come out of my text messaging plan.  AT&T charges $0.25 to send an International text and $0.20 to receive an international text unless you buy their international text plan for $9.99 which includes too international text messages and additional messages are $0.20.Now to be fair, the T-Mobile price would go up to $129.98 if I had a proper T-Zones plan like T-Zones Total Internet however I can do anything I need on the phone with the T-Zones plan.  T-Mobile has not officially released their 3G network so their rates may go up but that remains to be seen.  Also if I was on the T-Zones Total Internet I would be able to tether my notebook to my phone via Bluetooth and use the phone as a modem, the iPhone still does not support this without hacking that I am aware of.So other than getting an iPhone what am I getting for  the additional $34.01 per month, $408.12 per year and $816.24 at the end of my required two-year contract before taxes!Take for example how another country is promoting the iPhone.  Optus in Australia has the following statement on their iPhone pricing page “Optus is making the iPhone 3G affordable for everyone.”  Does that even sound like something you would hear spoken aloud in AT&T offices?Also because of the progressive nature of Australian government, they do not allow things like mobile phones to be locked down to a carrier.  So when an Australian iPhone user travels to another country, they can simply purchase a local pre-paid SIM and have a local number without all the international roaming surcharges… GO USA!Â

Can somebody please wake me up from this bad dream because it only keeps getting worse.  I visited a web site today that announced I needed to install the Adobe Flash Player.  I tried to install several timed by clicking “Install” on the window that popped up.  Finally I clicked on the “Adobe Flash Player Installer” link which took me to this TechNote on the Adobe web site.

Am I reading things correctly “Adobe Flash Player is not supported for playback in a 64-bit browser…”?  What in the world is stopping Adobe from releasing a 64-Bit Flash Player?  I know it cannot be as simple as re-compiling it with the “64-Bit” checkbox, but people come on!  64-Bit computing has been increasing in popularity and availability for the last few years, is there really any excuse for this?

So I finally upgraded my computer about a year ago now. I knew I would be running a virtual machine so I wanted to make sure I have the memory and processor. I ended up with a Core 2 Duo and 3GB or RAM. TO take advantage of the memory I knew I would need to use a 64-Bit OS. Originally I ran 32-Bit Vista but quickly decided to retreat to XP. A friend recommended that I use XP 64, I had no experience and was a bit hesitant to do it but knew it would give me the best use of the processor and full use of memory.

Along the way I have found a series of ups and downs trying to adapt. I was surprised and amazed at the number of applications that have specific 64-Bit versions of their applications. Overall application support was not a problem and I could run all that I needed. Lately I have been running into problems with drivers. It started when I tried to connect a Visioneer Strobe XP 100. At that point I did not realize that the 32-Bit drivers would not work, so I connected and tried and tried. Finally I phoned support and was told that I could try the Vista 64 drivers but they could not guarantee that they would work for XP 64 and they had no plans to support XP 64. Needless to say that did not work and I gave up on scanner support under XP 64.

Then a few days ago I needed to have a second network adapter to my computer. Since it is a small form factor the easiest way is to use a USB to Ethernet adapter. After doing some research I came to find out there are only two or three that actually are on the HCL for XP 64 and Vista 64. One of them was the Apple USB Ethernet adapter but since people in the forums were having trouble getting them going I figured it would be better to avoid this since I would probably need to dig through Boot Camp to find the drivers if they were even released yet. Then I found the D-Link DUB-E100, it was on the list and even less than $30. It arrived last night so I plugged it in today and no-where on the disc were drivers that would install on XP 64. I went to their web site and the download version was the same as the disc with the product. I did a search for “DUB-E100 xp 64″ and the first link is a product manual for the product that has a section telling you how to install the XP 64 drivers. I noticed two things about this manual. The URL indicates it is for 3.4 not 3.3, and also it is from the D-Link Australia site. AFter playing with the URL I was able to navigate to the Autstrlian drivers and download the 3.4 package with the XP 64 drivers.

On the flip-side I also needed to use a USB to Serial adapter I bought years ago, but guess what… I needed to buy a new version from the company because they did not offer XP 64 drivers for an “old” product. After researching I found a totally generic product that scared me a little but but claimed to support almost ever operating system from Windows 98 to Vista 64 including Windows Server 2003 64! It arrived in the mail with a 3 CM disc and I put the disc in the system. Autorun opens a splash screen with options to install drivers for the product and all the drivers are clearly in their own folders on the disc. The install goes smoothly and there are even drivers for OS X and Intel!

Someone please explain to me why a generic little USB to Serial adapter that cost $17 can have broad range driver support but USB to Ethernet adapters from the likes of Linksys, Netgear and others cannot support XP 64? Why does Apple upgrade OS X to support 64-Bit processors and without obvious turmoil in requiring new driver models? Every version of Windows in recent history has had a “new and improved” driver model which while it will cause a little hassle initially will solve the problems and be the end-all, only to be replaced again for some reason?

Finally I will note that I am displeased with scanner support in OS X. The Visioneer XP 100 will not work under OS X and I see no reason why Apple should not have better native scanner support. I thought Twain was supposed to be an industry standard? All the scanners I can find that are compatible with OS X are large desktop sized ones and I just wanted a small portable scanner for occasional use.

I am a creature of habit. I generally do things the same way, put my keys in the same place and follow the same patterns. Sometimes things get out of wack for whatever reason, and then chaos ensues.

Today I went with my family to see a film, as it the Christmas tradition. After buying the tickets from the kiosk I was putting away my credit card and sorting through the five receipts it spits out. One for free popcorn, another telling my I had achieved a new status, two different receipts telling me what I had purchased and the price, and finally a ticket to gain entrance. I walked over to the concession area and was putting things away. I found out I needed to get a sticker to indicate my new status so I then went to guest services.

After all of that I ended up back at the concession area. I put away my phone and was still holding my reward card so I went to put it in my pocket. I realized my “wallet” was not in the pocket I keep it in so I checked the pockets on my coat and still nothing. I put things on the counter to make sure I was not just overlooking it and then began to get a bit anxious. After checking my coat and pants pockets I announced that I had lost or left my wallet laying somewhere.

After searching and checking with the staff I began with my first phone call to cancel the cards from one issuer that were in my wallet. They looked up my information and then placed me on hold to contact the department to invalidate the cards. About 30 seconds from the time I was placed on hold everything changed. I happened to put my hand into my back pocket and there it was, my wallet. I never put my wallet in the back pocket. I did however have my reward card in my back pocket earlier. When I went to put it away I obviously put my wallet in there by mistake since I was still holding the reward card. By the time the phone rep came back it was too late and my cards had been invalidated.

This is not how I normally operate in life so I am going to be mentally smacking my forehead all day trying to figure out why I did something out of my norm and then reacted too quickly without checking all my pockets first.

Happy Christmas!

I was just completely taken back by a commercial on television. The new Clear Blue Easy commercial is just a revolting piece of media with the following vulgar quote.

The most sophisticated piece of technology you’ll ever pee on…

Is this the best that we can do for television advertising today?

Today my friend Mike called to share happy fun news with me, but first I digress.  

Back in 2002 I had my first exposure to GSM.  I knew I would be traveling to London so I went to the local GSM mobile phone carrier, VoiceStream Wireless (read T-Mobile) and established an account.  With the account I purchased my first GSM terminal (read handset or phone for the lame) a Motorola (before they were too cool and became just Moto) Timeport T280.  This was a decent phone even for a Motorola but it had a few issues when begin used abroad.

The first issue I ran across was that I was unable to get the phone to recognize and join a network. I discovered that I had to change the frequency it was using through an obscure menu setting since the UK used 800/1800 and my US carrier was 1900 at this point. Then I went to a local Vodophone shop to purchase a SIM and was informed that my handset was SIM locked. I phoned Motorola support and they gave me the SIM unlock code. Little did I know that in the future the carrier had to provide this code so I must have been lucky this day. I got the handset working and began my enjoyment of the GSM network. My handset was capable of handling two distinct lines however I did not have the option with my pre-paid SIM.

I do not recall the exact time or place of my first Sony Ericsson handset purchase I purchased my Sony Ericsson T68i from Amazon.com on 26-Nov-2002. I was able to use it with my 12″ PowerBook G4 and enjoy all the BlueTooth goodies. Just a little under a year later I purchased my Sony Ericsson T610i from Amazon.com on 8-Oct-2003. After rebate I think I got ~$100 back which was during a time of amazing phone prices and also some of the last days you could purchase a Sony Ericsson phone with T-Mobile service. T-Mobile has not carried anything but the GC89 PC Card since then, and Amazon.com currently does not carry any Sony Ericsson for T-Mobile.

Now we are back up to date. So my friend gave me a Sony Ericsson K750i but it seems to have a few issues like BlueTooth connectivity etc, otherwise it is a great phone. Mike received an email to announce the release of the Sony Ericsson K850i. This looks to be about the most fully featured handset that I could want. It supports GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA, UMTS 850/1900/2100. All that means that if T-Mobile ever upgrades from EDGE then I should be set to get actual 3G services! Mike phoned Sony Ericsson and apparently it is officially “globally available” yet they have no idea who will be carrying it or when it will be ready for purchase. Now what does that mean? Even the Sony Style store has no commitment to carry the device. Will somebody please tell me why Sony Ericsson is so adverse to taking my money?

This afternoon on the radio I heard a news story about a hacker convention coming to Dayton.  The Dayton Daily News article highlights about a local hacker Brian Fite and indicates that he is not a hacker that steals my information but he protects it.  Now if this guy has never met me how is he protecting my information?

“…first-ever international convention of computer hackers.”

 Am I the only person who has ever heard of DEF CON the hackers convention in Vegas?  And of course my biggest question which is not answered in the article… WHY DAYTON?ÂÂ

So I was browsing for something online which I cannot remember now, and I came across a MySpace page talking about a movie called “From the 50 Yard Line.”  I was in band in high school however my school did not have a marching band, so I was intrigued by the site.  I found they have the real site at www.fromthe50yardline.com and I looked around.  I watched the trailer and realized that the movie was about the Centerville (Ohio) marching band.  Why in the world would there be a documentary about the Centerville marching band?  I was not aware that in the entire world the Centerville marching band was so spectacular that they needed a movie.  I did find out that they have a full semi-trailer to transport their equipment, that seems a bit wasteful for a public high school, but who am I to say. In any event I would like to see the film, it does look interesting.