Adam's Blog

I miss Slush Puppies.

I signed up for Vonage in November. We have Vonage ads on OSNews, so I thought I'd give them a shot. I signed up for the $25/mo plan. The problem is, they use recycled numbers, so we got tons of phone calls over the first month or two from people speaking Arabic. I had to change my number. They want to charge you $9.99 to change your number. But we changed ours. Fast forward a few months, we still get 99% wrong number calls. We never use the thing. So when the device stopped working two weeks ago, we finally decided to cancel. When I called to do that, I found out that Vonage charges $39.99 to cancel your service. Buried in section 8.7 of their terms of service, you'll realize that by signing up, you're actually agreeing to a contract with a cancellation fee. A big one too: $39.99 for the service, plus, you have to buy the "device" for the full price: returns are not accepted. So, to cancel today, I have to pay them $170. Worse than a damn cell phone carrier. I'm telling everyone I can now: stay away from Vonage. While some may be happy...

So here's the day: WWDC 2009 keynote, and we're discussing iPhone OS 3.0. But there are still some major things I think are missing from the iPhone. Here they are, in no particular order: Wireless Sync Apple is the king of "no wires." They did everything wireless first. But the iPhone still needs a wire to sync. They have the perfect syncing technology already: Bluetooth. Why not permit syncing over Bluetooth? I don't any limitations on why you can't sync over wifi, let alone Bluetooth. This seems like a no-brainer. New Springboard How we've made it to 3.0 without a better way to manage our apps, without even folders, is a mystery. It's imperative, especially as iPhone owners install more and more apps, that there is a better way to manage and access apps. It's time for a re-thought Springboard. File Management Seems awfully odd that I carry 8GB of disk space on my hip but can't carry a single document without emailing it to myself. It's time to permit some storage of files on the device. Older iPods allowed "disk use," why can't the iPhone? And if not, at least a manner of loading the files through iTunes would...

I found Google Engineer Jean Baptiste Queru's camera requirements via a link on Eugenia's blog, and I wanted to share my thoughts on what I look for in a DSLR and what I recommend for the average photographer. I consider myself a novice, a hobbiest at best, however, in my admittedly brief experience with DSLRs, I have a slightly different set of requirements that might be a little better suited for the public. Note: I shoot Nikon, so most of my examples are with Nikon models, but the same applies to Canon, Pentax, Sony, Fuji, etc). JBQ's list starts with sensor size. Of course, for 99% of the general public, this is irrelevant. Clearly, sensor size has a massive effect on your pictures. It affects everything from focal depth of your lens to light captured and is, of course, tremendously important. However, to get a full frame DSLR, you're going to be paying at least 2 grand (as of May 09). And, again, for the general public, most won't notice the difference in photo quality with other very capable DSLR cameras. It's also worth mentioning that all DSLR cameras have larger sensors than point-and-shoot ones, so you're already looking at...

Damon said, "Here's the story with numbers. The Hanso Foundation that started the Dharma Initiative hired this guy Valenzetti to basically work on this equation to determine what was the probability of the world ending in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Valenzetti basically deduced that it was 100 percent within the next 27 years, so the Hanso Foundation started the Dharma Initiative in an effort to try to change the variables in the equation so that mankind wouldn't wipe it itself out." This information, in more convoluted form, was leaked out via the online games rather than explained on the show itself, says Damon, because, "That would be the worst thing ever. We have to make the show for the hardcore fans who care about the numbers, but we also have to make it for my mom, who just wants Sawyer to take his shirt off."