I'm so glad I have little to no interest in using the iPhone I might buy tomorrow for tethering.
The concept of charging a monthly fee for tethering on top of a plan that already offers a hot slice of delicious unlimited internet access is not completely unreasonable, but to price it in such a way that it makes out to be selling the tethered access as an entirely separate hot slice of delicious unlimited internet access is completely unjustifiable. It's the same hot delicious slice!
As plenty have pointed out since O2 announced their price around a week ago, it's not even clear whether they'll be able to tell the data flowing through the tether from the data only flowing to and from the phone. This only clarifies the point - it's the same thing!
Is usage arguably higher when tethering? Perhaps, but it's not as if you're not subject to the same excessive usage policy already in place, and it's not like it's anything more than a 3G speed connection.
I've done the pie analogy a little, but I think the milkshake says it best.
Get your Milkshake - £1
Straw - £1
Nobody's going to buy that straw!
Prediction - In the UK at least, O2 will relent and cut this to a reasonable price, or hopefully realise charging for it is pointless. It looks like AT&T in the US might want even more dollar for this, but they probably won't relent. We'll see.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
deja vu
I'm finding deja vu experiences different lately.
It now tends to come after the experience, whilst it used to come during it.
I'll have long conversations and then ten minutes later feel I've somehow had the conversation twice, and must have until that point forgotten having had it the first time.
It's oddly unsettling.
Finding evidence of forgetfulness doesn't help. I went to file a bug on a Maemo project last week and did a quick search to see if it had already been logged. I found not only had it been logged, but I did it, many months ago.
Just sayin'
It now tends to come after the experience, whilst it used to come during it.
I'll have long conversations and then ten minutes later feel I've somehow had the conversation twice, and must have until that point forgotten having had it the first time.
It's oddly unsettling.
Finding evidence of forgetfulness doesn't help. I went to file a bug on a Maemo project last week and did a quick search to see if it had already been logged. I found not only had it been logged, but I did it, many months ago.
Just sayin'
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Nobody Is Interested in Hearing About Your Dreams!
Just woke up. Ridiculous goings on before that though.
I was in some kind of car park.. open air.
Some other guy was there. I think the bald bearded guy from Iron Man who was Tony Stark's dad's business partner and who you could tell would be the ultimate bad guy within the first two seconds of seeing him. Okay I saw Iron Man last night. This is not the point.
I had to do a Google search. For what I forget but it was some simple two word search. For some reason in this reality it had to be done using some very oversized parking meter like device.
I clicked on a red area and somehow entered my terms. No keyboard and I didn't seem to speak so I guess telepathy.
The machine started to shake violently and I recall commenting to my companion that THIS was supposed to be progress.
The machine then stopped shaking and spat out a smart card and a dark sea green envelope with a slot for the card. I realise a slot in an envelope makes no sense in daylight but at the time it seemed to. I was supposed to slot the card into the envelope and then post it back into the machine which was now clearly a mailbox.
In my dystopia, and I assume by the company i'm keeping that's what it was, it appears that Google searches have to be carried out by mail.
So, then I got into my car and drove. On a narrow country lane a sideways original style Nissan Micra with a flat tyre blocked the road and the middle aged female driver asked for my help.
We (a few others turned up) chose to push the car off the road to fix the tyre. I commented to an elderly man assisting with the pushing that these old Micras were so light you could lift them, proceeding to lift my end with ease.
The elderly gentleman did the same, promptly dropped his end causing the whole car to roll over him and bend him backwards in two. He said he was okay but I don't think he was. He was alive at least, and I could hardly be blamed.
Then I woke up.
I often think back to whats i've dreamed about to identify what in my daily life my brain is attempting to make sense of. I can't really come up with anything to explain this one.
I was in some kind of car park.. open air.
Some other guy was there. I think the bald bearded guy from Iron Man who was Tony Stark's dad's business partner and who you could tell would be the ultimate bad guy within the first two seconds of seeing him. Okay I saw Iron Man last night. This is not the point.
I had to do a Google search. For what I forget but it was some simple two word search. For some reason in this reality it had to be done using some very oversized parking meter like device.
I clicked on a red area and somehow entered my terms. No keyboard and I didn't seem to speak so I guess telepathy.
The machine started to shake violently and I recall commenting to my companion that THIS was supposed to be progress.
The machine then stopped shaking and spat out a smart card and a dark sea green envelope with a slot for the card. I realise a slot in an envelope makes no sense in daylight but at the time it seemed to. I was supposed to slot the card into the envelope and then post it back into the machine which was now clearly a mailbox.
In my dystopia, and I assume by the company i'm keeping that's what it was, it appears that Google searches have to be carried out by mail.
So, then I got into my car and drove. On a narrow country lane a sideways original style Nissan Micra with a flat tyre blocked the road and the middle aged female driver asked for my help.
We (a few others turned up) chose to push the car off the road to fix the tyre. I commented to an elderly man assisting with the pushing that these old Micras were so light you could lift them, proceeding to lift my end with ease.
The elderly gentleman did the same, promptly dropped his end causing the whole car to roll over him and bend him backwards in two. He said he was okay but I don't think he was. He was alive at least, and I could hardly be blamed.
Then I woke up.
I often think back to whats i've dreamed about to identify what in my daily life my brain is attempting to make sense of. I can't really come up with anything to explain this one.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Green
First off Observer, these songs weren't penned since Obama showed up in January - settle the fuck down.
My relationship with these guys is odd but probably quite typical. I have everything since Dookie... except Warning. I don't know where I got Insomniac from and I generally ignore the songs on it. You couldn't call me a true fan, although you'd probably overlook these oversights and go straight for the lack of Kerplunk if you wanted to make a point of it.
I don't think these last two albums sound anything like the others, but I love them both in the same way.. as each other, which is in a different way to the rest.
New albums rarely make an immediate impression. I normally have to try hard to get into an album. I slid into 21st Century Breakdown without even trying. I am however not a music reviewer, so i'll just point out what I like and move on.
The introduction to the title track eventually being revealed to be the introduction to the final track, See The Light, is just the kind of thing I love for reasons I can't explain. That song is a little Kiss-like, although I can't see anyone else saying this anywhere.
Two part songs like American Eulogy are great. One of my favourite Less Than Jake songs is The Brightest Bulb (no shit!) Has Burned Out/Screws Fall Out, and this song has a very similar structure, coming in together at the end.
Peacemaker reminds me of Hang 'em High on My Chemical Romance's Three Cheers album, although a little less over the top. East Jesus is punky goodness that five years ago might have become a single but now probably won't. What might? Last of the American Girls maybe. Seems to be the only place they're able to top the charts any more. Last Night on Earth is also fairly ballad-tastic and likely to be a candidate, although it does sound a little Greatest Love of All, undeniably.
Is it more "over-produced" than American Idiot. Only a little. Was American Idiot more so than the earlier albums? Yeah. I think though people are mistaking an improved singing voice and the use of more instruments with over-production though. I seem to be one of the few people that likes my music produced, and really, everyone uses compression - even the bands that produce the raw garage sound.
Also to reiterate the point many make but everyone should just accept - this band has evolved, they're not punk kids any more, and if they were writing and playing "real" punk you'd be wondering what the fuck experience they were drawing on (in the last ten years).
My life is richer for this album, and if they want to make a third like this in another 5 years... all in!
My relationship with these guys is odd but probably quite typical. I have everything since Dookie... except Warning. I don't know where I got Insomniac from and I generally ignore the songs on it. You couldn't call me a true fan, although you'd probably overlook these oversights and go straight for the lack of Kerplunk if you wanted to make a point of it.
I don't think these last two albums sound anything like the others, but I love them both in the same way.. as each other, which is in a different way to the rest.
New albums rarely make an immediate impression. I normally have to try hard to get into an album. I slid into 21st Century Breakdown without even trying. I am however not a music reviewer, so i'll just point out what I like and move on.
The introduction to the title track eventually being revealed to be the introduction to the final track, See The Light, is just the kind of thing I love for reasons I can't explain. That song is a little Kiss-like, although I can't see anyone else saying this anywhere.
Two part songs like American Eulogy are great. One of my favourite Less Than Jake songs is The Brightest Bulb (no shit!) Has Burned Out/Screws Fall Out, and this song has a very similar structure, coming in together at the end.
Peacemaker reminds me of Hang 'em High on My Chemical Romance's Three Cheers album, although a little less over the top. East Jesus is punky goodness that five years ago might have become a single but now probably won't. What might? Last of the American Girls maybe. Seems to be the only place they're able to top the charts any more. Last Night on Earth is also fairly ballad-tastic and likely to be a candidate, although it does sound a little Greatest Love of All, undeniably.
Is it more "over-produced" than American Idiot. Only a little. Was American Idiot more so than the earlier albums? Yeah. I think though people are mistaking an improved singing voice and the use of more instruments with over-production though. I seem to be one of the few people that likes my music produced, and really, everyone uses compression - even the bands that produce the raw garage sound.
Also to reiterate the point many make but everyone should just accept - this band has evolved, they're not punk kids any more, and if they were writing and playing "real" punk you'd be wondering what the fuck experience they were drawing on (in the last ten years).
My life is richer for this album, and if they want to make a third like this in another 5 years... all in!