Month: August 2007
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Blackberry "8830 World Edition": some initial impressions of the CDMA/GSM phone
Continue Reading: Blackberry "8830 World Edition": some initial impressions of the CDMA/GSM phoneToday I received my new Blackberry “8830 World Edition” and I thought I’d record some initial reactions. As past readers know, I live in Vermont where we don’t really have decent GSM coverage (and can’t get the iPhone) and are, in fact, likely to have even less GSM coverage now that Verizon will be purchasing GSM provider Unicel and, per Engadget and others, will be converting all GSM users over to CDMA.
This is obviously not a good thing for those of us who need to travel outside of North America.
My previous CDMA-only Blackberry 7290 became essentially an extremely expensive paperweight the moment I left these shores. Because I do travel, I have had a “backup phone” that is a Cingular GSM phone (with a New York number) that I used when outside of NA. However, it’s rather a pain because: 1) it’s a different phone interface than I’m used to; 2) it’s a different number than people know and I have to get into forwarding; 3) it doesn’t always seem to work abroad; 4) Mitel has been paying two separate monthly fees for me; and perhaps most importantly to me 5) I don’t get my email…
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Vonage drops below $2/share!
Continue Reading: Vonage drops below $2/share!Russell Shaw has the details: “Did you ever REALLY think Vonage stock would go below $2 a share?“
I’ve not written here much about Vonage or the many other “consumer VoIP” players. Partly because I guess at the end of the day I just don’t find their proposition all that compelling. Partly because the lack of voice security in so many of the consumer VoIP players just really offends me. Partly because I don’t see them really as all that “disruptive” because their positioning really seems to be “We are cheaper than the other guys”. Yaawwwwwwwn.
Note to Vonage and friends: Someone will always be cheaper.
Technorati tags: vonage -
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Telephony *disrupted*… Blackberries do NOT like being submerged in water (nor do digital cameras)
Continue Reading: Telephony *disrupted*… Blackberries do NOT like being submerged in water (nor do digital cameras)Note to self: Blackberries don’t like water!
Last Friday, I took most of the day off as vacation so that we could leave early to go camping for the weekend. I did work for an hour or two in the morning and so I had my old Blackberry 7290 clipped to my belt when we drove off to Little River State Park in Waterbury, VT. We set up our camp site and then drove down to the boat launch to put our tandem kayak in the water. We got the boat all ready, moved the car up to the parking area some distance away and were basically ready to go.
It was then that I noticed the Blackberry was still on my belt. Eager to get on the water and not really wanting to walk all the way up to the parking area to put the BB in the car, I said “Okay, no problem, I’ll just put the BB in the small waterproof ‘dry bag’ fanny pack where I keep my wallet and digital camera.” I’ve been using this particular dry bag for years and never had any problems with it. It’s been a great way to bring a camera along and…