Friday, October 19, 2007

Octoberfest



GSM unlocked and unbranded

Luckily, T-mobile gave me the unlock code to my first GSM phone. I had to enter a special code that they emailed me, and enter a password and that was it. T-Mobile I think is one of the few carriers in the US that allows this(They want you to use your T-Mobile phone overseas too on their networks there). My t68i was a great phone, but it actually lacked one of the frequencies used by North America, especially in rural areas.. Worked fine in the city... I also am a Cingular, Pay as you go customer... I just need to pop a different SIM card in, and I'm on Cingulars network. I have found this handy in a few dead spots up in the mountains.

My k790a unlocking was a bit trickier. I really got hooked on Sony Ericsson's phones, they are loaded with really useful features.. This one has a 3 megapixel camera and loads of other features. One problem, this phone was only available in Canada, and it was locked to a canadian carrier. So I bought it off ebay, locked, it was a few hundred dollars cheaper than the unlocked version.

Then the fun begins, I still had my t68i but one of the buttons started to act up.. I got a new Blackberry Pearl from T-mobile, wait a few weeks and unlock it, sell it on Ebay brand new, and it all comes out in the wash as an upgrade to the phone I actually wanted, not the one the carrier is pushing to sell.

Unlocking the k790a took a bit of research... If you are not technical, have one of your tech friends do it or visit any non-carrier gsm reseller and pay a guy to do it. The phone came with a USB cable, so that was key, I knew I could somehow use my computer to unlock it. I used Davinci Teams software to unlock it, and Mobile2Mobile.net's software to unbrand it.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Radiohead's - In Rainbows released.


As I download Radiohead's new album directly from their website at 335kb/second, I also write this post to promote their new album. This album isn't chopped up for sale for 1$ per song, this album isn't at the store for 20$ for the CD. This album is available online for the price of **.**.

One more time, **.**. That means, you determine the price. I bought the downloadable album for .01 pounds(they are a UK band) to try before buy, and of course if you use credit card, Visa want's their 'processing fee' of .45 pounds. So the whole digital album cost me about US 1$ dollar. I heard a lot of these songs back in June when they were on tour, but I wanted to download and hear the studio quality versions before splurging for the more expensive 3fer Downloads + CD + Vinyl set packaged together. There is no record industry middleman in this transaction, Band -> Fan, so my words of wisdom, buy a few sets and save them as a piece of history as one of the first albums to take the recording industry out of the picture, completely.. and deliver their music to fans to decide the true worth of the music.

Oh, my downloads done... time to check it out.

UPDATE:
After listening to the album about 5 times, it's definately a Radiohead classic that gets better with each listen. That infectious electric keyboard, and his unique voice that just grows on you like it did for classics like 'Karma Police' and 'Creep'. I like it better than Kid A, and I liked that album too. I'm throwing the commererative discbox (Record+CD) onto the wishlist....

Monday, October 01, 2007

got mail?

Remember back before the days of email, how in the morning you'd send out maybe a letter or a bill and raise the flag on the side of your mailbox? Then on your way home, you would check the box, grab anything inside and take it home to sort and read. Send in the morning, receive/respond in the evening...

2007, and email (electronic mail) has become such a part of our lives that we wonder how we may have gotten along without it. Then again, we probably used that novel invention the telephone a lot more frequently... But that point aside, I am planning to revert back towards the days of old, and send a few personal messages in the morning and once again read/send a few in the evening... What does this mean if you want an immediate quick response from me? You may just have to call or txt me. The major motivation for this? I want to figure out the best mix of frequency and amount of time spent communicating through email, and I'll start by minimizing it to just twice a day... Lets see how long it lasts, maybe I'll check my email just one more time before I post this!