Posted on No Comments on Corporate Responsibility: Alltel presents “A way to waste Money”

Corporate Responsibility: Alltel presents “A way to waste Money”

I was watching TV yesterday and there were multiple advertisements every hours from Alltel Wireless. Their main “push” was that you did not have to sign a contract every time you change your rate plan. I decided it was not a bad idea and went on to their web site. It seems that there is no coverage in my area or in the NYC/NJ are at all (the TV station that had the advertisements is in NYC). My question is why would you spend all this money advertising in a market that you don’t service ??? I think Alltel deserves to be nominated for “Best way to waste funds” and “Dummy of the Year” awards. What is your take on it ?

/D

Posted on No Comments on Anyone else want to sue Vonage ?

Anyone else want to sue Vonage ?

<Rant>

At this point I am just disgusted. It seems that all the “big boys” are jumping on the bandwagon and trying to sue Vonage. The latest one is from ATT&T saying that they have a patent that they filed in 1996 which contained “broadly describes the idea of routing telephone calls over data networks like the internet.” You have to be kidding me. Maybe I should patent breathing. I can then sue the world and make them pay me a monthly fee to breathe. We all get the idea of what is going on here. AT&T is trying to do what the others have done and take out Vonage. AT&T listen up, there is a reason why your customers are leaving you. Look in to your practices and see what is wrong. This is why competition is so great. If a client of mine leaves me for some one else I want to know why. I want to better myself. I don’t want to take out my competition. I just hope AT&T looses by a landslide and that these games end.

</Rant>

So when can I expect my payment from you for my patent on breathing ?

/D

Posted on No Comments on Ready to be really annoyed ?

Ready to be really annoyed ?

The EU is looking to allow air planes to be fitted with equipment that will allow users to use their mobile phones. I can’t wait !!!! I was on a flight to the US last year when ElAl still had WiFi on the flight. There was some one on the flight speaking on his laptop through a head set. While this is cool it was pretty annoying. For two hours the people around him could not sleep. I can’t imagine flying and hearing “Ack Ack Ack”. (Yes I read about this on my beloved EnGadget. Click here to see it).

/D

Posted on No Comments on Outsourcing Work Over Seas

Outsourcing Work Over Seas

<RANT>

I have a client who recently found a vulnerability on their server (in the code, I am a gooooood sysadmin). The work was done in a different country. While I do not tell my clients where to go I hate getting phone calls at 4:00 AM that the server is down when it was the coders error (and the server is not down but rather the coders messed up). People have to learn that you get what you pay for. I am not knocking coders in other countries but I have seen my fair share of bad work done over seas. In the words of the great jbot in the #asterisk channel on irc.freenode.net

“<Dovid> ~ygwypf

<jbot> well, ygwypf is You Get What You Pay For. If the sole factor in your decision to purchase a product or service is that it’s cheaper than everything else out there, don’t be surprised if it’s also worse in every other respect than everything else out there.”

Nufffffffff said.

</RANT>

/D

Posted on No Comments on Toys, Toys Toys

Toys, Toys Toys

I tend to browse EnGadget a bit and I have noticed a lot of new toys that I would love to get if I was able to afford all of them. Some of these include:

Small Laptop that runs on a SSD (Solid State Drive) memory. It will be made by EEPC. (I may actually get this one).

PDA phone made by HTC for Sprint.

Nokia N810. Now if it only ran Windows Mobile……

19 Inch LCD screen from Smasung.

Pyxis GPS watch.

Several Smart phones by Verizon.

Anyone want to help me create a fund for my toy addiction ?

/D

EDIT: I keep finding more toys. Here is another.

Posted on No Comments on Unlocked iPhone in France

Unlocked iPhone in France

I love the regulation in France. The law there states that if you sell a locked phone you must give your customers the ability to unlock the phone. I understand this that Apple will have to release updates for the phone for users that want to use the phone with another carrier in France. I can only wonder how Apple will limit the phone to be used only in France so that people can not simply buy it there and use it else where. I hope this opens up a new world for users around the world so that they will be able to use it with any carrier around the world and get all the updates for it. FYI the carrier selected to be the exclusive provider of the iPhone in France is Orange.

/D

Posted on No Comments on If You Can’t Beat Em, Join Em

If You Can’t Beat Em, Join Em

It seems that Apple woke up and smelled the coffee. To date there is no “official” way of creating third party applications for the iPhone. Developers had to find a vulnerability in the iPhone in order to install their third party applications. As per this article on EnGadget Apple will be releasing an SDK edition for developers to write their own applications. There is also rumors out there that Apple will have to approve every application that is created. (Anyone smell power struggle/control ?) I can’t wait for a SIP soft phone for the iPhone so I do not have to pay the ridiculous rates of my current mobile carrier.

/D