The times they are a changing….

So this is the story.  A friend of mine was in South Africa on holidays in 2002.  Having had a few too many to drink he found himself alone and drunk in area of town he didn’t want to be in.  With that he pulled out his trusty Irish mobile to get some directions.    The problem was, he couldn’t ring Ireland, because South Africa is on the same latitude as Ireland, so everybody would be in the same time zone. Instead he rang Sydney Australia, where another friend was able to get on the internet, fins out where he was, and then direct him to his hotel.  He called australia from his irish mobile to get directions in a small town in South Africa.  The thing is I used to think this was a great story.  And at the time it was.  It was a clear demonstration of the arrival of the new digital globe.  The story was revolutionary.  But not anymore…    I found myself telling this story tonight, and discovered fairly quickly, that it wasn’t a story anymore.  It was a grandads tale.  I found myself wondering why he hadn’t just accessed google maps mobile. You see even then, five years ago, (dear lord it’s that long), google maps didn’t even exist.  This was ground breaking stuff.  Of  course this is coming from someone who still qualifies stories with,  ”You have to remember that this was before  we had mobiles”. Anyway, I had to get it off my chest.  I still haven’t worked out whether this is  about how much technology has changed us, or how I’ve been generation gapped.  Time will tell….

Unlock your iPhone at your peril!!

Be afraid, be very afraid.  The usually jovial  apple, has issues a dire warning to consumers not to unlock their iPhones, as this may result in permanent inoperability. Gasp!

Besides destroying it, unlocking the iPhone also has the effect of allowing the user to subscribe to non authorised telecom networks.  Even more exciting, unlocked phones can have additional homegrown functionality such as the extra wallpapers and ringtones.

Apple intends to update the software regularly, and these updates will might kill the deregulated phone.  You’ve been warned, your unlocked iPhone is nothing but a ticking timebomb in your pocket. 

Kah- Blooie!

Free AOL Laptop to set you back £1388.74

  That’s more than an iPhone, and that’s before you even make a call.

Yes, those cheeky chappies in AOL are trying to get at your wallets again.  This time it’s a four page cover spread of on the ever popular Metro advertising a free wireless Laptop for signing up to their broadband.  This, by the way is the same Metro that touted the iPhone as costing £1259 “before even making a call” yesterday.  As ever there is some small print, so it is only appropriate that we apply the same knee jerk statistical logic as the Metro used on the iPhone to this offer, so that you my dear reader, can fully understand the true cost of this Faustian bargain. 

Of course I’m not going to divulge the in depth statistical modelling I have used to conjure up this immense figure, but fear not, if the lawyers do start banging on my door, I have a coherent argument.

Competition: There’s a free Rugby World Cup mini stress relief rugby ball for the first person to work out how I came up with this figure.

iPhone – £1259 before making a call – The backlash has begun.

It’s only been on the streets for a couple of days, and already the Iphone is getting the british Tabloid treatment.  Like Paris Hilton, it’s being photographed in all the right places, but no one is taking it seriously.

According to the ever reliable free morning newspaper, “The Metro” the cost of an iPhone is a staggering £1259.  Their calculations are based on a a £259 handset, the £55 a month for 18 months contract.  Of course there is a £35 contract, but that doesn’t make good reading.

I’m strangely ambivalent to the iPhone, so I won’t be breaking open the piggybank yet.  Sign me up for an iPod Touch though, I am completely sold on it.  Just don’t tell the girlfriend,  I’m pretending to be broke…