December 31st, 2007

Our most-commented on post of year: a clueless flight attendant and iPhone's aircraft mode

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 8:35 am

Categories: Apple, Mobile

Tags: Apple iPhone, Flight, Aircraft, Russell Shaw

Well, as we clear our throats to sing Auld Lang Syne, can’t let this year pass without paying homage to that so totally Digged post of ours, Clueless flight attendant to passenger: Turn off that iPhone movie NOW!

This post captured dual honors as our most Commented upon, and most read post of 2007.

Struck a nerve because it told a story that was not only funny, but acted as a confirmation for the widely held belief that in-flight services have really declined in the U.S.

And for the record: as one formerly clueless flight attendant hopefully has learned by now, you can watch movies on your iPhone. Just stay in Airplane Mode and you won’t interfere with the tower.

Happy New Year!

December 31st, 2007

First VoIP call completed on iPod Touch-here's what it looks like

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 6:42 am

Categories: Apple

Tags: Apple iPod, Apple iPod Touch, Digital Music, Telephony, Digital Media, VOIP, Personal Technology, Networking, Consumer Electronics, Telecommunications

As we get to roll in the new year we see that eok, marion and samuel from touchmods have rigged up a way to make a VoIP call over an iPod Touch.

Not an iPhone, mind you, but an iPod Touch. I wrote that right.

Watch the video for a play-by-play.

Details, including download of available software to do this, coming soon.

Soon as in next year, which as I write this is less than 18 hours away.

Speaking of, “should auld….”

December 31st, 2007

Our most-read post of the year: according to one flight attendant, airplanes and iPhones don't mix

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 12:32 am

Categories: Apple

Tags: Apple iPhone, Flight, Russell Shaw

Sometimes when I fly, it just drives me nuts when flight attendants make an announcement about turning on your “Palm Pilots.”

Well, they don’t make them anymore. The only pilot you are likely to see aloft is on the flight deck, getting ready to dodge that big cumulonimbus by flying around it. We hope.

That’s my rather wordy way of introducing our most-read (and most commented-on) post of the year: Clueless flight attendant to passenger: Turn off that iPhone movie NOW!

The flight attendant in this true story didn’t know that the Apple iPhone allows movie watching in airplane mode. No risk in captain-to-tower communication. But because this flight attendant probably was technology illiterate, well, the post title tells what happened.

I might add this was far and away the most read, as well as most-commented on post I made here this year. It got picked up by Digg, and earned nearly 4,000 well, Diggs. If I could capture that magic again, that would be super.

Also, the scenario described in this blog post kind of tapped in to a common meme that all too often, air travel in the U.S. has been suffering from poor in-flight service. In the light of such service issues, lots of readers seemed to relate to the chain of events I described in this post.

Well, we want you around to relate more in 2008. So Happy New Year, and if you imbibe, strongly consider a taxi or a designated driver!

December 30th, 2007

Woman receives Sprint wireless broadband bill for $14,062.27

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 7:01 pm

Categories: SprintNextel

Tags: Sprint Wireless, Card, Woman, Broadband, Sprint Communications, Broadband Internet, Modems, Network Technology, Telecommunications, Wireless

This fall, a Sprint customer named Krystyl signed up for Sprint’s $59.99 a month unlimited broadband service.

Unlimited? I don’t think so.

As Krystyl’s YouTube video (via the Consumerist) reveals, she didn’t get an invoice for $59.99, but um, uh, $14,062.27.

Here’s Krystal’s version of what went down:

My name is Krystyl. I recently signed up for Sprint, to utilize their wireless broadband card, where I can use the internet on my laptop virtually anywhere where there is a wireless signal. I signed up for the unlimited $59.99 plan, at which I had 30 days to keep or cancel the service.

Within the first week of having the service, the card that was sent to me no longer worked. I called to cancel the service, and the gentlemen I spoke with told me that they didnt want to lose me as a customer, so they would drop my service for half the cost and send me a new card. I figured, why not, this is still within my 30 day trial. They sent me a new broadband card, and it the speeds it gave me were in a 14k modem speed, which is about a dial up connection speed or slower these days. I called Sprint for them to tell me to take the card to the store and do an instore return.

The nearest store they sent me to that allowed returns was 25 minutes away from where I live. Once I got there, the store told me they could not return the package because the upc code was different than that they carry in the store. The next day I called sprint for them to tell me to give me a run around. After 2 hours on the phone, I finally told them I wanted to cancel the service. At which they did on December 10th.

I checked my mail today to recieve another bill from sprint, for $14,062.27.

My take: Sprint’s clueless, but this takes the cake.

December 30th, 2007

Our Second Most Commented Post of Year: Hey we're AT&T, don't diss us or you could be gone!

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 8:17 am

Categories: AT&T, Mobile

Tags: AT&T Corp., Russell Shaw

A few months ago, several bloggers noted a clause in AT&T’s contracts that advised customers the following:

AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice, for conduct that AT&T believes (a) violates the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff (including, without limitation, copyright and intellectual property laws) or a violation of these TOS, or any applicable policies or guidelines, or (c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries.

And there’s more that neither Slashdot or Ars Technica reported. That’d be 5.2:

Deletion of data after Termination or Cancellation. You agree that if your Service is terminated for any reason, AT&T has the right to immediately delete all data, files, and other information stored in or for your account, including email messages, without further notice to you.

This language provided grist for our second-most commented on post of the year: ATT-”tend to damage” our name and you could be terminated just like that.

Strike one for the warmth of customer relations. Or better yet, that’s the world you get when you let lawyers rule.

Once again, we, and several other blogs, raised hell. It felt so-o-o-o good to do so.
So much hell, in fact, that AT&T later decided to modify that stupid, and yes, offensive, policy.

Blogistan rules!

December 30th, 2007

Number 2 most-read post of 2007: get off that iPhone buyers' line, now!

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 12:24 am

Categories: Apple

Tags: Apple iPhone, Blog, Russell Shaw

The Number 2 most-read (or second most-read, if you prefer) post on this blog during this almost-over year has been 11 more reasons NOT to buy an iPhone (and that you haven’t thought of).

I think this post was popular because it expressed a contrarian view about a device that so many of us spent so much time talking about, waiting online (both online in the physical world as well as the virtual world) for, as well as using.

And considering that this post was also the fourth-most commented on in this blog during 2007, many of you were eager to hear this contrarian view as well as to comment on it.

December 29th, 2007

Third Most-Commented Post of Year: Not in this office with that iPhone you don't!

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 8:13 am

Categories: Apple, Enterprise IP/VoIP

Tags: Apple iPhone, CNET Networks Inc., Post, Russell Shaw

I will let you in on a little secret. When ZDNet was spun off from Ziff-Davis seven years ago and became a part of CNET, (some of you still haven’t gotten the news) the overarching thinking was that CNET would concentrate on consumer tech devices and news, and ZDNet would largely dwell on enterprise news and tech.

Although this template isn’t as set in stone as it was, I often find myself exercising the sensitivies about how VoIP, mobile and other technologies we care about impact the enterprise.

That’s one reason why I decided to write the post, Seven reasons why iPhone’s not fit for prime enterprise time. I got the idea for this after reading a post citing research firm Gartner’s reasons why enterprise users probably should not invest in iPhones for enterprise use.

Chords were struck on both sides of the issue. And when we strike chords here, comments will follow. Enough of them, in this case, to make this post our third-most commented-upon this year.

A sampling:

An operating system not licensed to third-party hardware suppliers, resulting in no backup.

Still true, still true.

December 29th, 2007

Puzzling why broadband users are more aware of DTV changes than other groups

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 8:04 am

Categories: Broadband Deployments, Predictions and Observations

Tags: Broadband, Digital Television, Cable, Internet, Broadband Internet, Network Technology, Telecommunications, Networking, Russell Shaw

As you can read in this grab from online marketing news and research site eMarketer’s analysis of the demographics of households aware of the nation’s transition to digital tv, broadband Internet customers seem to be more aware of what’s going down than even digital cable subscribers are.

Quickest of backgrounders for those not in the loop: On Feb. 17, 2009,  all US broadcasters must stop analog broadcasting and complete the switch to all-digital signals.

That’s a bit surprising, considering that the presumption would be that digital cable subscribers would care more about tv technology consumption requirements than broadband Internet subscribers might. 

The same broadband Internet subscribers who, to a significant extent, have forsaken tv watching for Internet multimedia. 

My opinion-facilitating neuron paths have yet to kick in on this one.

Readers, what do you think?

December 29th, 2007

Number 3 most-read post of 2007: thumbs up for iPhone

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 12:24 am

Categories: Apple

Tags: Apple iPhone, Surgery, Russell Shaw

Fool me once, shame on me.

That would have to be the most honest account of what happened with our third-most read post of the year: Man endures thumb surgery to better enable iPhone use.

At first, this sounded quite twisted, but consider the era, dude. We’re talking early August of this year, when the iPhone was just out a matter of weeks. So one extremist who took it too far by having his thumb adjusted to make iPhone usage easier? Hey this is a crazy world and I’ve seen crazier.

Plus hey, I thought to the self, didn’t famed guitarist Les Paul have some sort of surgery to lock his hand in place so he could grip and play the guitar?

Only trouble is, the source we extracted the story from finally copped to making this all up. So I guess you could say we got “punk’d.”

December 28th, 2007

Fourth most Commented post of year: hmm, maybe you don't need an iPhone after all

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 8:00 am

Categories: Apple

Tags: Apple iPhone, Reason, Russell Shaw

I’ve been blogging about the iPhone quite a bit this year.

(”Ya think?” uttereth the assembled multitude)

Those who felt a need to push back against what they saw as an excess of hype found sympatico within my post entitled 11 more reasons NOT to buy an iPhone (and that you haven’t thought of).

Conversations sparked by some of these reasons inarguably motivated enough of you to offer your thoughts that this post was the fourth most commented on in this blog during 2007.

OK, let’s pick a number. Say #7.

No capacity for video output to a tv (as iPod has).

Click on this post to read the rest, and let us know which of these 11 reasons you agree and/or disagree with.

December 28th, 2007

Number 4 Most-Read Post of 2007: Microsoft goes anti-phishing

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 12:05 am

Categories: Security, microsoft, patents

Tags: Blog, Microsoft Corp., Phishing, Russell Shaw

Every time I post Patent news here, I draw guffaws from those readers who don’t seem to think there is a need for Patents. Yet other readers understand that quite often, Patent applications are a technology company’s markers toward specific innovations.

Of all the patent news I posted on this blog, as well as on my BlackBerry blog here in 2007, the one that received the most page views has been Microsoft files anti-phishing patent-but will this work?

The fourth most-read post on this blog during this past year, this entry got a popularity boost from what many may have seen as an obvious contradiction. That’d be Microsoft, not universally respected for the security of its operating systems and email utilities, coming up with a solution to detect and reducing such a common and seemingly solution-resistant malpractice such as phishing.

Then of course, this is the company with a Chairman- one Mr. Gates, who once said we’d stamp out spam in three years. And um, wasn’t that three years ago?

December 27th, 2007

Number Five Most-Commented Post of 2007: all cellphone contracts must die

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 7:41 am

Categories: Mobile

Tags: Cell Phone, Russell Shaw

One of the practices in technology marketing that really, REALLY hisses me off is that invariably, the small print in contracts is so much more important than the marketing yada-yada in huge print.

When cellphone carriers offer small print clauses, it is usually for the edification of your own pockets. In fact, if you read the Terms of Service or other language in that tiny subquark-sized font size so often used, you are really reading your path for how your carrier just might be able to justify screwing you if they deign to do so.

I know you are with me so far. In fact, so many of you have been that you made the post entitled, Yes, all cellphone contracts must die our fifth most-commented on post of this rapidly-closing year.

Wanna recapture the rage? Click the above link to re-read it.