i-eclectica.org

TechRepublic published an informative article on the upcoming battle between WiMAX and 3G. The article ways up the pros and cons of both technologies, reserving its judgment though in the end. It nevertheless is a good introduction into the next great technology battle.

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Now playing: Múm - Dancing Behind My Eyelids
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I don’t wanna come out of the closet as a Nokia fan - I don’t think I’d ever commit myself to any product to such an extend! But this is a great website! The Best Page In The Universe! And Maddox seems to have a lot good points on his side against the iPhone. There’s one thing though to be said against Nokia’s E series (as Stephen Fry pointed out): it’s outrightly ugly! But design alone doesn’t make a good phone, and neither does a marketing show to the idolisers. Even if you don’t agree with Maddox at all, he nevertheless provides a good reminder, which I’m more and more hardwiring into my brain especially since I live on borrowed time with my current phone - literally): before you buy, detach from the hype! Not always easy nowadays …

	iPhone	Nokia E70
Resolution:	320×480	352×416
Storage:	4 or 8 gigs (fixed).	Unlimited. The E70 can use hot-swappable 2 GB mini SD cards, so you can have as much storage as you want.
Can customize ringtones with your own mp3s:
Can record video:
Screen turns into a smudgy piece of shit after a few minutes of use:
Can send MMS messages:
You have to send your phone to Apple when the battery dies and risk getting your phone lost, stolen, or damaged in transit:	Yes.	No.
Plays MP3s:
Holds your phone hostage to Apple for new software updates because Apple won’t allow everyone to develop applications for it:
Voice dialing:
Can record voice:
Instant messaging:	No.	Yes.
Can’t do fundamental tasks like copy & paste text:	Yes.	No. Double negative, bitches!

20 years - that’s the age difference between the IBM hard drive on the left, and the SD Card on the right; both feature a maximum storage capacity of 1 Gb. Apparently though, a museum in Norway has a 1Mb IBM drive in their collection; size: about 1 meter in diameter! But apart from size differences, the difference in costs would be quite interesting; I’m sure the 1Gb drive would not have been available for $30 or less 20 years ago .

[via Forever geek]

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Now playing: Kanye West - Touch The Sky
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Apple is playing hardball. The company practically said that with the release of its next iPhone software update later this week it will nuke unlocked phones. Why? According to Apple “many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed. … Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty. The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone’s warranty.”

The damage to software argument is most likely crap, and the mentioned result only occurs because Apple is hitting back. The true reason for Apple’s tough stance is that it has a very profitable arrangement with a number of telcos; those cozy relationships are not in the interest of iPhone customers - about whom Apple cares little. It’s simply called corporate greed, and I’m considering more and more not to wait till the iPhone comes out here in Australia but just to look for alternatives. Put my money where my mouth is …

Quite intriguing: for some thoughts and more images from the original 1984 Macintosh user manual see peterme.com

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Now playing: Menomena - Flour
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