There is a flaw in the logic offered by AT&T, Verizon et al regarding the early termination fees (ETFs) on cellphone contracts. The argument, as cNet reported Thursday, is that the ETF minimizes the initial cost of the phone. In other words, part of the price of the phone is built-into the monthly service contract. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: February 2010
Phishing: From AOL to Twitter (and points in-between)
The act of fishing, according to Texas State Rep. Aaron Pena, can be described as “slow, methodical and patient.” The act of phishing, on the other hand, can be described as methodical, patient and unscrupulous.
The first time I saw the word phishing, I did not immediately think of phreaking (hacking a telephone system). I thought it was a clever “respelling” of the word “fishing” since the two verbs share a common theme: to seek to obtain something indirectly or by artifice. Continue reading
Joni Mitchell & The Alberta Ballet
Tonight we went to see The Fiddle and The Drum at the Paramount Theatre, its U.S. premiere. It was an amazing production! STG billed it as “neo-classical style” but The Victoria Times goes further:
Continue reading
FCC Issues New Broadband Stats
The FCC has issued a report (pdf) that claims that 78 percent of adults in the U.S. access the Internet and that 67 percent have broadband at home. Before you go jumping up-and-down in excitement about these adoption rates, there are serious caveats and questions.
The biggest caveat is how the FCC defined broadband: Continue reading
Twitter Stats: Monday 22 January 2010
Today, Twitter reported that it is managing 50 million tweets a day (600 tweets per second). In 2007, the average (?) was 5,000 times a day and by 2009 hit 35 million a day.
Today, in a 24-hour period, the rapper Lil’ Wayne (@LilTuneChi) garnered 112,466 followers (TwitterCounter). For context, I think Oprah gathered 215,961 followers in her first 24-hour period (but my interpretation of the blog post could be in error). She had 56,000 followers before she had posted her first tweet.
Today, in the 21-hour period after posting his first tweet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama had attracted about 40,000 followers. (I’ll update Tuesday with data from TwitterCounter.) Is there another religious figure that compares? (The Pope endorsed digital outreach in January, but I have not heard of anyone from the church setting up Twitter.)
Pretty amazing untapped desire; more fodder for the hype cycle. Screenshots below the fold.
