23 Jul
Posted by scottc as Communicate, Sprint
Sprint lovers rejoice! Even though the beloved Sprint SERO plan has been put to rest, Sprint still have an employee referral offer. Their new plan is one of their “Simply Everything” packages and costs $59.99 per month. The plan starts at $59.99 and comes with 500 minutes as well as unlimited access to all the other Sprint services (including Blackberry Internet Service!).
The one downside to the plan is was that you had to actually know someone who works for Sprint. But that issue has been taken care of, courtesy of their Senior VP of strategy, Russ McGuire. Mr. McGuire posted his own personal details so anyone can now take advantage of this plan. Kudos to him for recognizing this opportunity!
My e-mail address (you’ll need it) is russ.s.mcguire@sprint.com and the 3 digits you’ll need are 383.
The Sprint signup page for the deal itself can be found here.
Source: McGuire’s Law (blog)
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My deal of the day today really is about as far from a travel gadget as you can get. It’s for the top of the line Vista version from Microsoft. This version of Vista ultimate comes complete with a REAL signature from Bill Gates himself.
The package was introduced last year and originally cost over $300. But someone clearly needs to get rid of it, because it’s on sale now for just $80 from OfficeMax.
It’s listed as “while supplies last”, so don’t delay too much.
Product page: OfficeMax
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Slydial is a new service that connects you directly with someone’s mobile voicemail box, without actually having to talk to that person! If you need to leave someone a message, or just need a way to weasel out of a meeting, this might be the product you have been waiting for.
The service is simple, you dial 267-759-3425, enter the number you want to call and after listening to a short commercial, you reach the voicemail box of the number you entered.
It didn’t work as flawlessly as I had expected as the 2 phones I tried did ring once, but it was just one short ring. This does mean that the called party will have your caller ID, so if you really need to be sly, block your caller ID.
Source: Slydial.com
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My deal of the day today is quite spectacular. It’s for the new Asus Eee PC 900. This machine was introduced just a few months ago for $549, but with this deal it has dropped well below $400.
Inside this mini notebook is an 8.9″ display (1024*600), 20GB of SSD storage, 1GB of memory, Wi-Fi and a webcam. It comes with the Asus Eee PC version of Linux, but that can easily be replaced if you have access to a Windows XP installation CD.
There are a couple of caveats with the price; the “out the door” price is normally $529, but for just 3 days (July 22-24) it is on sale for $479.99, and Asus have a $100 mail in rebate promotion till July 31st. The sale and rebate make the final price of this machine just $379.99, which is actually cheaper than the original Asus Eee PC.
Product page: Zipzoomfly.com (via Fatwallet)
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My deal of the day today is the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. The N810 was featured here in a review several months ago, and since that review the price has dropped $130.
At $299 this is a real bargain. Inside the N810 you’ll find an FM Radio, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and 2GB of storage.
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Boingo has a great wireless network for Wi-Fi access around the world. If you’re on the road they seem to be a pretty good alternative to paying on a site-by-site basis, and it is even a decent price often just for a daily. Well, it seems that they are pretty keen on getting more subscribers on their monthly plan rather than holding out for the daily subscribers, so they’ve cut their subscription pricing drastically, from $21.95/month to $9.95 for folks joining up now.
The key is to use promo code UNL01090USD0 when you are signing up.
Originally noted here. Thanks!
UPDATE: Three caveats about this offer. First is that it expires July 31st. Second is that the “unlimited monthly usage” is actually 3,000 minutes/month. So don’t leave it logged on overnight at the hotel and you should be fine. Third is that it is only good in North America; global roaming will cost you per minute.
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We are now on day 5 of the iPhone madness, and it appears that Apple is having some major issues keeping the thing in stock.
None of the AT&T stores in my area have received any new shipments since their initial batch, and I’ve been hearing similar reports from others. One even heard that Apple told them not to hold their breath waiting for a new box of iPhones and that in-store orders would take up to 3 weeks to ship.
Even the Apple stores themselves barely see any new shipments. Yesterday I was told the tale of someone who waited in line for 4 hours, only to be told they were out of phones (doesn’t anyone at Apple count the people in line and compare it with their inventory?).
The only stores that seem to be able to keep getting restocked are the flagship stores. They’d better fix this soon, or people are going to be mighty disappointed, especially if this turns into the new Nintendo Wii.
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15 Jul
Posted by scottc as Mobile applications, iPhone
The newest iPhone software added a much needed feature; push email. And at the same time, Apple introduced their own push mail service; MobileMe.
The Apple version costs $99 for a year, but today I’ll show you a free alternative that is, in my opinion even better.
Mail2Web is a well established hosting provider that has been offering free Exchange accounts for years. I’ve been a very satisfied customer (with my Windows Mobile phone) for ages.
Their free Mail2Web Live service offers a basic Exchange push service with your own @mail2web.com address. You can forward your existing email to this address, or use their service to pull your own email into their system. The free service is ad supported and everything you send has your mail2web.com address in the “from field”.
For just $4.95 a month you can upgrade to Mail2Web personal; this allows you to use your own email address and access the service through Outlook Web Access. For just $59.40 you get a service that is essentially the same as MobileMe, but with TRUE push features.
You get a full 30 day money back guarantee and no setup fee is charged!
Update: I’ve been a little harsh on MobileMe, as commenter TivoBoy points out, there is a lot more to the Apple service than just Email.
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After numerous delays, the first MSI Wind netbooks seem to be shipping. Gizmodo got their hands on one, and have already posted a brief review.
According to the review, it’s everything the Eee should have been.
In short; $499 gets you a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, a 10″ display, 1GB ram and an 80GB drive. The price drops $100 if you select Linux.
Source: Gizmodo MSI Wind review
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Over the past few days I’ve been keeping an eye on the inventory pages on Apple.com. This handy service shows which Apple stores have the new iPhone in stock, and which models are actually on the shelf.
One thing I’ve constantly seen is that the 16GB iPhone sold out almost everywhere, in both colors (with the black version selling out first).
When Apple introduced the first generation iPhone, they started with a 4GB and 8GB version, and just like now, the larger one was the biggest seller. Just 2 months after its introduction, the 4GB version was discontinued. due to lack of customer interest.
So I have to wonder whether Apple really learned from their mistake? Of whether they are doing this on purpose? Sure, they had to make some concessions to keep that magical $199 price point, but they could have anticipated that demand for the larger one would massive. Of course, knowing Apple, this is all part of their grand scheme. Either way, it’s pretty crappy because a lot of people walk into an Apple store and when faced with just one choice of iPhone (8GB), they’ll decide they don’t want to spend another 4 hours in line and pick the one they didn’t really want. That’s dedication for ya!
My guess is that in 2 months Apple will discontinue the 8GB 3G iPhone, and that by December we’ll see a new 32GB version show up. Just in time for Christmas…
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