I wanted to take the time to communicate to you the single most important action that you need to take to retain your existing rights to free speech, but may not even have know about until you read this article.
Currently in front of the FCC is a proposal for changing of the current definition of Net Neutrality. The FCC has issued a 120 Day Comment period, which has been extended recently due to the incredible influx of community comments so far. The new deadline is September 15th.
This morning’s Windows Phone 7 Launch Event, while appearing in a somewhat subdued fashion, ended on such a very high note that I considered the launch a rousing succcess! Â
The lack of an impressive Microsoft presence in the Windows Mobile field over the last few years has kept the fanboys and girls from becoming overly excited at the event, like Apple fanboys are with just about any Steve Jobs announcement.  Heck, even Antenna-gate showed a lot more Apple fan enthusiasm than this launch event.  However, I really think that Windows Phone 7 is such a different OS that it will quickly gain mindshare with consumers who have yet to purchase an iPhone.  It *may* even convert a few existing iPhone/iPod users.
I also appreciated Steve Ballmer’s enthusiasm, and Ralph de la Vega provided some very interesting details on AT&T’s future device line-up!
Joe’s presentation, with all the demos and live interaction was a complete joy to watch.  I especially enjoyed watching his bravery and true faith in taking a second shot at connecting to the Tell Me servers to complete his online search for Alaskan Airlines flight number 7. VERY IMPRESSIVE.
In all honesty, I can truly say that I cannot wait until November 8 to get a new Windows Phone 7 device!
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) won a critical exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anti-circumvention provisions on Monday July 26th. This exemption provides new legal protections for consumers who modify their cell phones in order to make them more operable for their own personal use. Previously, these actions could have been used as grounds to sue them for their non-infringing or fair use activities.
Read onward after the break to see the rest of the article!
Picked-up my new Touch Pro 2 from my local AT&T store today.  Boy is this one sweet phone. Only thing that would be (possibly) better is the HD2, but lacking a keyboard is a major deal killer for me.  Getting ready to update the ROM to NRG’s latest and greatest…
Yesterday, I didn’t even bother trying to adjust my new Fuze. I spent the remainder of the day (and so far today) just getting to know the new device and seeing how it operates. There are so many new things to play with on this device.
It is a totally wonderful device, and has pretty much everything that I could ever want. It certainly has absolutely everything I want now, but I phrased the previous sentence that way because there’s always the chance that I could discover that there is something else that I want but that this device does not provide. I’m sure there will be a few, but I doubt they will be all that important to me.
So, I’ve already read the manual twice over, and there is so much stuff on this device that the manual barely scratches the surface. I’m going to have to do some serious digging…
The Touch Flo 3D (TF3D) interface shown on the commercials really is that good, but is completely alien to me since I came from the standard “Today†screen interface, so this will likely prove a very illuminating experience for me…
After a lot of soul searching, I came to the conclusion that while I could not afford to buy an AT&T Fuze on a financial basis, I also discovered that I could not afford to keep my original HP iPAQ h5555 and put-off buying the AT&T Fuze until later.
The HP iPAQ h5555 has outlived it’s usefulness for me. It has WM2003 as the OS (putting me five versions behind the current OS), 128Megs of memory, no VGA, no Phone (so I have to carry a separate cell phone), no GPS (so I have to carry a separate GPS receiver), no slide-out keyboard, and no data plan to be able to surf the Internet from anywhere.
For example, I most certainly need a newer mobile device in order to continue to be able to provide useable technical support to users in the Windows Mobile Total Access forums. Almost all of the new users in those forums have a newer device with Windows Mobile 5, or the newer WM6 and WM6.1, so it becomes infinitely harder to provide technical support when you don’t have the benefit of owning a newer device yourself.
Yet again, I most certainly need a newer mobile device in order to be able to provide technical support to users in the GPS Tuner forums. This device, like a lot of other devices that GPS Tuner users own, provides users with a built-in GPS radio, so that I can use 3rd party GPS Navigation software right on the device. GPS Tuner also makes use of various online maps (Google Maps, Topo Maps, etc), so having a device that is capable of using an Internet data plan will go a long ways towards helping me troubleshoot additional capabilities of the program.
As a Microsoft MVP for Mobile Devices, it helps to have a newer mobile device in order to compare notes and professional opinions on the very same newer devices that my peers own and use on a daily basis.
As a Product Reviewer and Writer at MobilitySite, it helps to have a more recent mobile device in order to properly evaluate 3rd party programs and software, since most of the newer programs won’t even install on older PDAs.
And finally, as a Mobile Technology Enthusiast, Professional Writer, and Independent Consultant, it helps to have all the best tools available in order to help you perform your job, no matter where you might find yourself.
So, I bought the AT&T Fuze, and I’m ever so happy that I did! I expect to continue delving into this device for at least the next month or so, as this is my first modern day device in the last 5 years.
More to come in the following days (presuming I remember to come up for air).
Well, I was so tired of DirecTV and their HD “glitches” that I decided to give AT&T’s offering a try.Â
After all, I’ve been with all the major providers so far: Comcast, then Dish Network, then most recently DirecTV. I still had to go thru seven receivers (five Standard Definition, two High Definition)before we got one that worked, and while the programming has been fairly consistent, it still has a lot of problems.  Mostly it was lots of issues due to typical satellite “line of sight” related issues (inclement weather, birds sitting on the LNB of the dish, etc). It didn’t help that I knew more about their services and products than their technical support people did. Please don’t even get me started on their lack of customer service!
Anyways, I ordered the service back on the 8th, and the technician showed-up today as expected.Â
Because I had wired my house for CAT6 way back in 2000, most of the work the technician would have needed to do was already done. We used Ethernet connections to bridge all of the boxes to the new 2Wire Router (3800HGV-B), and I’m getting a good solid 25Meg download (shared between the TV Programming and my High Speed Internet).
Unfortunately, I had to give up my Static IP address that I had with my “grandfathered” DSL service, so now I’m researching Dynamic DNS (DynDNS). I’ll probably have enough info when I’m done to write a how-to…
Well, I dusted off an older 2Wire router (1000SW) and plugged it into the equation. It will restore DSL service immediately, and will provide most of the services that we used to utilize on the newer 1800HG. It will lack some services, like Wireless “Gâ€, “IPSec Passthruâ€, and of course all of the firewall entries that I had created on the 1800HG… sigh…
I’ve written 2Wire Technical Support to see if they could assist. I remembered that they had assisted the last time I had this problem (yes, it has happened before) by sending me a complimentary replacement cord/adapter. I think they felt bad that the router (very high-end electronics with Integrated Circuitry) was lasting longer than their A/C Adapter power cord.
AT&T Inc. and Starbucks today announced the beginning of the rollout of AT&T Wi-Fi service at company-operated Starbucks stores, kicking off a nationwide effort that will 
continue through 2008.
At the 2008 AT&T Inc. Annual Meeting of Stockholders in San Antonio, Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson announced that the companies have already started the deployment of AT&T Wi-Fi service at Starbucks locations in San Antonio, making it the first market to deliver the complete AT&T Wi-Fi experience in the U.S.
