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I’d been using a mediocre (read crappy) phone for long enough, and decided it was high time to get on the smart phone bandwagon.  I love Google’s Android OS, and being a Verizon Wireless customer, the Droid looked mighty appealing.  My New Every Two isn’t up until January, but I read a few posts on The Consumerist about Verizon customers having their New Every Twos bumped up for the Droid.  Apparently Verizon really wants to get these phones out there.  I decided to bank on this and also take the opportunity to play with the phone myself.

I spent about 20 minutes at the Verizon store playing with the phone and hoping an over-ambitious Verizon employee would ask me if I needed help (why don’t they show up the one time I need them).  The screen on the Droid is gorgeous, and I was surprised at how snappy the interface was.  I knew pretty quickly that I wanted this phone.  After no employees bothered me I actually signed into the front computer under Sales and waited an additional 15 minutes to have my name called (more time with the Droid!)

The nice saleswoman behind the counter informed me that no, I could not have my New Every Two bumped up (I guess I need to find a way to be cute enough to have that “offered” to me) but being a Verizon Wireless customer I still received a $50 credit towards the phone, as opposed to the $100 New Every Two credit.  This was definitely appealing, but I was still on the fence.  Since I’m on a Family Plan with my sister until January (when I get my own plan because I’m a big boy now) I asked her if I would need to change my plan at all and affect her.  The nice saleswoman smiled and informed me that no, we could still share the Family Plan, and I could just add the Data Plan onto my line without affecting her.  Wait…what?

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, to use a Droid with Verizon Wireless you require a Data Plan.  The cheapest Data Plan is $30 on top of my current voice/messaging line, and that only comes with Email!  I don’t even want Email or Internet access on my phone.  I have a difficult enough time refraining from texting while driving; Email on my phone will literally kill me.  I’m around WiFi 95% of my awake life (and 100% while asleep) so I have no need to pay heinous fees for worse Internet speeds.

Now we get to the meat of my problem…the garbage, if you will.  Hearing this wasn’t a major surprise, as I have heard of Blackberries requiring Data Plans, but this being the first time I had been subjected to these rules it didn’t sting any less.  I politely declined and left the store immediately.

This is why I have an issue with cell phones in America.  It has become the standard to charge for each little type of content or usage on the network, so most people don’t think twice about accepting a $15 per month charge to be able to send text messages, or a $30 per month charge for email.  Can you imagine, however, if the Internet worked this way?  If customers were required to pay $40 per month for a basic internet package (allowing you to browse news websites) and spend extra for things like email or downloading music through iTunes, they’d throw fits.  Granted, with all of the talk about net neutrality and bandwidth capping, some ISPs are actually considering these types of services.  Thankfully the Internet market has already set the standard as “you pay for the pipe, now do what you want with it”, so it would be nigh impossible for an ISP to survive on a usage-based pricing model.

Having had broadband for 7 years, the most recent service provided by the wonderful Verizon FIOS, and also knowing what I do about Japan’s and China’s cell networks, it literally pains me to think about paying $40 for cell service and then an additional $30 (or more) for Internet access that’s at best the equivalent of a shoddy DSL connection.

Well, all of that being said, where can I go from here?  How can I use any of the great phones out there to do the one thing I actually want them for: making calls!?!  The short-run short answer is that I can’t.  American Cell Providers have already set the standard, and they have no reason to move to a system that benefits consumers since we’re all locked in anyway.  Long-run however, let’s me hope that 4G brings me the cell phone service I’m dreaming of: cell phones like Internet.  It’s a simple dream, but a powerful one.  I’m waiting for the nationwide wireless broadband service that you treat just like your home Internet connection.  I want to pay a monthly fee, get a wireless “pipe” at a certain speed that allows me to do whatever I want with it.  No more paying extra for the different ways I want to use it.  Verizon’s fabled LTE service may finally be the service I’m looking for.  After winning the bid for the 700Mhz wireless spectrum several years ago, Verizon has been building up the infrastructure needed to support a network like this.  I, for one, have high hopes that Verizon will bring the one severely lacking technology in America up to speed with the modern world.

Introduction

First of all, I want to thank everyone who provided feedback on my guide, Install Vista on Dell Mini 9 (USB).  It has been a pleasure to give back to the community.  As a thanks, I have added title pictures to the Vista guide as well as this one.  (I know; I’m cheap.)  That also means that I’ll be writing the same sort of guide for Windows 7!  I finally convinced my girlfriend to let me at her Mini 9.  I have been playing with the Windows 7 builds since build 7000 leaked (that’s all that’s been on my new gaming machine, actually) and I am very pleased with the new OS.  As everyone knows, Windows 7 is what Vista was supposed to be, but Microsoft released way too early.   But this is another topic; installing Windows 7 on the Dell Mini 9 is very similar to the Vista installation, but I have decided to rewrite an entirely new guide just to eliminate any confusion over small differences.  I will do my best to make the guide as similar to the Vista instructions, and I’ll even be pulling sections word for word.  As always, feedback is always appreciated.

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I’m not one to toot my own horn, but I totally called it!  In my post from last November (http://rickatnight11.com/?p=64) I write:

I’ve always wanted to see a kind of hybrid between the mouse and game controller.  I’m talking about a Wii-mote analog stick in one hand and a mouse in the other.  To me that’s a combination of the two most accurate analog human interface devices in computer history.

Well, friends, mLani has listened to my suggestion.  Engadget has posted an article about the mLani “Mobi” which is exactly that.  I mean look at the picture:

Could you get any closer to what I was talking about?  I think not.  I hope to see that these work on the computer (I mean, USB?  Come on now) or that there will be a PC version soon.  I’ll be expecting my check in the mail, mLani.  </toot>

I have had my new gaming machine assembled for a month now, and I am still just so happy with it. It’s been years since I had a top-of-the-line computer, so I’ve been throwing as much at it as I can, and Fuzzdump (as I affectionately named it) is working like a champ.

Update: Added Assassin’s Creed video (2/18/09)

Specs

Asus Crosshair II Formula Motherboard

AMD Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition

4 x 1GB PC1066 RAM

XFX Geforce GTX260 Black Edition

WD RaptorX 150GB 10k rpm HD

WD 1TB Green SATA HD

I played all of my new coveted games that my old machine couldn’t even run, like Dead Space and Assasin’s Creed, the games that my old machine could barely run, such as Left4Dead and Unreal Tournament III, and the older games I wanted to see graphics improvements on like Counter-Strike Source, the Half-Life 2 games, Guitar Hero III, etc.  Fuzzdump absolutely crushed them, and I can’t say how happy I’ve been. More »

I got a chance to play with the new Verizon Hub yesterday.  I must say, it’s definitely fun to play with, has some interesting features, and I could actually see myself using this.  I like being able to have a calendar back home that sends me updates via text.  I know that any web service (ie Google) completely trumps most of these features, but it’s an interesting idea, and it is a beautiful device.  Sorry for the poor picture/video quality.  All I had was my phone:

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Introduction

I recently bought one of Dell’s new Mini 9 netbooks as my girlfriend’s Christmas present.  To save some cash I got it with Ubuntu pre-installed.  If this were my machine I’d just keep Ubuntu on there, but she will almost certainly hate it.  So, this guide is intended for people who don’t have Windows XP installed from the factory, so we don’t have that nice folder with all the drivers to port over to Vista.  Of course a lot of this process applies to anyone who wants Vista on the Mini 9, so I’m happy for anyone to get some help.

The guy over at http://dellmini9.blogspot.com has already documented his Mini 9 experience.  He’s gotten Vista (and now even a beta of Windows 7) running on his machine, and his site has a lot of great tips.  I will do my best to combine the tips I found useful from that site with this particular process.  His install was from XP so he was able to skip a few steps.  Please add any comments for any mistakes I will certainly make.  I’ll do my best to update the guide to accommodate for as many situations as possible.  Read on for the guide…

Update: My girlfriend loves the Mini 9 (although I’m pretty sure she was expecting it after all my hints.)  Go Dell!

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Browsed Slashdot this morning, and saw a post about CVG’s interview with Halo Wars’ lead desiner, Graeme Devine, who “claimed that the controls are actually better than those of a PC RTS.”  You’re kidding, right?  Has Graeme ever tried to use an Xbox controller to control their PC desktop?  Because you’ll be doing the same click and drag “box-selecting” of units/icons, moving the screen/windows around, and otherwise frustrating yourself.  Apparently the controls are “geared more toward broad tactical strokes than intensive small-group micromanagement.”  Well, that’s comparing apples to oranges, gentlemen.  They didn’t develop a control interface better than those of a PC RTS, they just created one that tries to avoid the inherent limitations of a control stick for this type of game.  How about trying that same interface on a keyboard and mouse?  I bet it works even better.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying there is no use for an analog control stick.  Far from it.  I’m just calling Graeme Devine out in this case.  In actuality, I’ve always wanted to see a kind of hybrid between the mouse and game controller.  I’m talking about a Wii-mote analog stick in one hand and a mouse in the other.  To me that’s a combination of the two most accurate analog human interface devices in computer history.  With the added power of the Wii-mote’s motion sensor we’d reach a whole new level of control.  Not only could that kind of control benefit Halo Wars, think about what it could do for other game genres? (You listening, FPS-fanatics?  Eh, who am I kidding, that’s all I was thinking about too…)

Of course, no one has asked me to try out Halo Wars’ new PC-trouncing controls, so what do I know?  Well, for one thing, that I’ve never found gestures to be an effective replacement for an interface.  Maybe as an added feature to assist human control, but never as the entire interface.  If they’ve done it, more power to them, but my Skept-o-matic is buzzing.

So the boys up at CERN have finally turned on and mildly tested the potentially earth-destroying Large Hadron Collider, and thankfully we’re still here.  Several (read MASSES OF) people are concerned that the LHC could be the threshold for the events starting in Half-Life 1 to unfold.  So much so, in fact, that web news site reddit.com has taken it upon itself to send CERN a package containing a crowbar, Half-Life strategy guide, headcrab plushie, and a note reading “Get this to Gordon Freeman. He’ll know what to do.”

Some astute members of the Internet community have discovered that Gordon Freeman does, in fact, work at CERN, as is proved by this photo:

Gordon Freeman at CERN

What makes this an even chillier reality is that fact that another familiar face has been spotted:

Gman at CERN

It seems as though Valve was just in time to provide a suitable training platform to prepare the world for these events.  God help us all.

This is my first post from the recently released WordPress App for the iPhone and iPod Touch! I have been waiting for this App to come out for quite some time, and hopefully this will increase my rate of bog posts.

It’s nice to see a Photo publishing feature in the first release. Combined with the 2.0 firmware’s Home+Power button screenshot feature I can easily make posts like this all from my iPod Touch!

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I have been loving my 8GB iPod Touch since I got it last Christmas, and after jailbreaking it the moment I got it I have played with all the fun (and useful) community-built applications for it. There are reasons why I don’t have an iPhone yet, however. I’d love to use one as it could make my personal and accelerating business life much more efficient. I have a few major caveats that I expected the Internet community to have solved a while ago: I have Verizon, and like it (for now), so I have to wait for the 3G version to come out this summer, but where is a hacked USB interface for the iPod Touch and iPhone? I hate iTunes, and since the entire filesystem and bootloader for both devices has now been hacked and made accessible, why hasn’t anyone rewritten the USB interface on these devices to let any program access and manipulate them?

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