The Next Step

I’m in between classes, mourning for lik-sang and wishing there was more to see online. Also wishing I was watching Battlestar Galactica. I’m thinking I should spring for some web hosting so I can have my own nice little place on the internet. But I’m too lazy to go out and find the reasonably priced, reliable hosting that must exist somewhere.

Anyway, I agreed to take my last co-op job at Brontes over in Lexington, so I’ve got to get my car up to the city for January. Another thing to worry about.

On the plus side, I did get a blackboard for my room. And colored chalk!

I realize this is very old, but I had never seen it before now, and now only because I’m doing some research for a paper. Well worth a read, in a 1984 kind of way.

This kind of thing really shouldn’t surprise me anymore. Cell phone companies are right down there with cable companies in my book. They just seem to find a way to charge you for everything. For instance, T-Mobile lets you download ringtones to your phone for $1.99 apiece. This in itself is a bit outrageous when you consider that Apple lets you download a song to your computer for half that price. But consider also that the only way to retrieve the ringtone is by using T-Mobile’s internet-via-phone service, which costs an extra $5.99 a month. (Disclaimer: I’m not picking on T-Mobile in particular here, they just happen to be the service I have the most experience with.)

So naturally, I go looking for a way around this. My new phone, the “entry-level” model Motorola v188, came with a built-in mini-USB port, as well as support for mp3 ringtones. Huzzah! Motorola, in their infinite wisdom, has delivered me from the iron fist of the wireless companies. The savior of the little guy is ushering in a golden age of information connectivity. Oh, wait. You can’t actually use the USB port on the phone unless you (surprise!) download Motorola Phone Tools for the low, low price of $29.99. Sigh.

Every other type of connective device on the market comes bundled with drivers to let you connect it to your PC. So why do the wireless companies insist on holding us back? Do they really think that in an age of camera/video/music phones, they’ll be able to continue getting away with this? People are going to be outraged when they can’t transfer the pictures they’ve taken using their sweet new cameraphone unless they pay a nominal fee to their wireless provider.

With any luck, Apple and Microsoft will get on board the mobile phone bandwagon soon with a truckload of PC/Mac compatible phones and devices. As far as I can tell, tougher competition is the only way we’re going to keep them honest.

I remember switching to Gmail and being in awe of its sheer awesomeness. It just felt… right, if you know what I mean. It’s hard to put a finger on it, but the old Yahoo and Hotmail systems just felt clunky. I suppose that’s why so many people have made the switch to Gmail already.

But it looks like Yahoo still has some tricks up its sleeve, because I logged in the other day to verify some account I had to set up for some reason, and was asked nicely if I wanted to try the new Yahoo mail beta. Why not, I asked myself. Not like I care about this account anyway. Suddenly there was a guy in a purple suit walking around on my screen giving me a “tour” of the very-different-and-very-ajaxy Yahoo mail beta. And I have to admit, I’m pretty impressed. They’ve come out of the gate with a lot of features and a lot of help available to make sure you get the most out of them.

It’s got an integrated RSS reader, should you choose to use it, and also includes Calendar and Notepad applications. Overall, it looks like they ripped off all the best parts of Gmail, but polished them up and added in some of the more glaringly-absent features. For instance, the free Intellisync program to sync up your Yahoo calendar with your PDA, Outlook, etc.

I’m certainly not leaving Gmail anytime soon, but that’s mostly because changing email addresses is a pain. If I was choosing my first email provider, though, I’d be seriously considering Yahoo right now.

We could all learn a lesson from the Amish. It’s hard to remember the last time Christians in the media managed to muster up some love and compassion.