The Blackberry is all over the news today. Verizon announced that the Blackberry 7250 will be available to customers starting Friday. Since my 2 year contract with Verizon ends in August, I've been looking at what phone to go with when I renew that contract (Verizon's New Every 2 allows me to take a $100 discount on top of whatever rebates and discounts are there on a phone).
Aside from the fact that Karl Rove and members of congress are happy Blackberry users, I like the idea of always being connected to email and instant messaging, in addition to the phone.
Research In Motion (RIM), developers of the Blackberry, have announced the model 7270. Similar to other Blackberry models except that wireless internet access was added and the phone portion dropped. The idea is that one could use the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to dial out or receive phone calls.
For those of you rolling your eyes at the sight of yet another computer acronym, VoIP is similar to the traditional telephone except that an internet connection is used for phone hook up instead of the traditional connection (known as Pretty Old Telephone System, POTS).
VoIP is cheaper and easier to manage than POTS but requires a high speed internet connection.
What makes the idea of a Blackberry doing VoIP phone connection is that you could potentially have one phone number for home and walking around. No need for Mom...err...someone to call every single phone number you could possibly be, leaving voicemail on all those phone numbers. The only caveat would be that most wireless internet hotspots require some sort of fee for usage. Still, if you go overseas, no need to worry about whether or not your cell phone will work with their mobile phone system.
Cingular's Ogo looks tempting. $23 per month for unlimited wireless email, instant messaging. Keep in mind that the Ogo is strictly for text. It does not have a cell phone. But for the price, hard to deny.
How about this idea...you get into a car, swipe your drivers license through a slot and the LED display where the license plate traditionally is then displays your driving ID number. That way, when the cops pull you over, they know it's you.
I thought about the idea of the info being sent to a national database where they'd know when you are driving but that might be too invasive to our privacy.
I subscribed to Adelphia's HD content back in September. I get NBC in HD, as well as HBO and Starz. I am however, thinking of cancelling. ABC, CBS and FOX HD stations are currently not available in my area, so why bother with it if I can't see the non-ESPN broadcast football games, the Super Bowl, March Madness or the World Series in HD? Surem it's only $7.95 a month but that translates to $95.40 per year on top of my already expensive cable bill. Something's gotta give.
Apple did right by the Mac mini. Keep it up. I saw one in person. The pictures out there really do not do justice in representing just how small the Mac mini is.
