2008 July

Blind Faith

Do you ever get the feeling, while browsing some news sites, that you should be looking at The Onion?

From the Article:

At least 50 people have lost their sight after staring at the sun hoping to see an image of the Virgin Mary, according to reports.
…
Forty-eight cases of sight-loss, allegedly caused by photochemical burns on the retina, have been recorded at St Joseph’s ENT and Eye hospital in the region since Friday.

Despite warnings, and the potentially harmful effects of their actions, believers are allegedly still flocking to a hotelier’s house in Erumeli near where the divine image is said to have appeared.

Might just be one of those days…

Southern Amp 2008 Lineup

Morphyoss has the first lineup announcement for the Christurch music festival, Southern Amp:

• The Living End
• The Dandy Warhols
• The Potbelleez
• Gyroscope
• Tiki
• Testament
• The Jordan Luck Band
• Autozamm
• Goodwill
• Concord Dawn
• Little Bushman
• Dimmer
• Die! Die! Die!
• Fur Patrol
• Goodnight Nurse
• State of Mind
• The Valves
• Pitch Black
• The Exiles

NICE! It’s due to kick off November 9th. Looks like some party! If the second announcement is anything like this one, I might have to be there!

iPhone and Vodafone Data Plans…

and the rip-off that they entail.

As you might know, if you try and use an existing youChoose connection with iPhone, Vodafone will tell you to sign up to the iPhone-only data plans with a mandatory 24-month term. Not really surprising for a company who will start charging prepay customer $1 to call the customer care help center.

That is, even if you already have their Mobile Broadband (200Mb/1Gb) plans assigned to your account. With these “mobile broadband” plans it’s possible to pay slightly more per month, $10, to not be locked into a term.

That option isn’t available with the iPhone mobile data plans. And Vodafone will also tell you there’s no way to use your iPhone on the “mobile broadband” data plans.

They’re lying.

With that site it’s possible to configure your iPhone to use the generic mobile data APN (access point) and not the iPhone only plans. You can use the casual data rate or any other data plans you want. It’s also completely reversable and seemingly undetectable.

Vodafone do not want you to have a fully functional iPhone without signing a 24-month contract. Too bad!

Happy Hacking!

Narrow Collision

A woman was watching the late news when a breaking news bulletin comes on:

“There is a car currently driving the wrong way up a Wellington highway. People are urged to stay off that road until the situation is resolved”

The woman, knowing her elderly friend Harry Spencer is on the road tonight gives him a call on his cellphone in advance…

“Harry, look out, the news said there’s a madman driving on the wrong side of the motorway! Be careful!”

“One madman? There’s fuckin’ dozens of them!”

Rogers Caves to Angry iPhone Canucks

Rogers, Canada’s sole iPhone provider, released it’s plans some time ago to screams of protest, horror and mostly, rage.

Their plans were so upsetting to Canadians who had to sit out of the iPhone launch while their brothers to the south (and west) rubbed their noses in it. The announcement spawned websites, petitions and blog posts across the internet.

It’s even rumored to have drawn the ire of Apple itself who are said to have made a power play to divert a majority of stock destined for Canada to Europe. They also have said that Canadian Apple stores will not be selling the device on launch day.

However, it seems that they have been heard by Rogers, who have decided to release a better value data portion to their plans raising the cap up to 6GB. Still not the unlimited plans that AT&T are offering but a huge improvement.

Will Apple ding Vodafone NZ for their behavior? Will Vodafone NZ listen to it’s customers? Don’t hold your breath.

King of Cartoonists

I always enjoy reading Stuff catoonist, Mike Moreu’s, work. Funny, relevant and poignant. Lots of jokes about politics but even-handed when dishing out the hurt.

You can see his gallery here and he also writes a blog on Stuff called Tooned In which is interesting for a look inside his head.

Hey Canada, You Think Your iPhone Deal Sucks?

I feel a bit sorry at the moment, watching Mark Rushworth squirm on Campbell Live trying to defend an indefensible position. Unfortunately, I can only hear the phrase “our plans provide great value” so often before I switch off.

For those new to the game, iPhone 3G is a new device produced by Apple. It’s a second generation product but it’s the first time that Kiwis will be able to get their hands on it fully supported by a telco. In NZ, that telco is Vodafone. The offending plans are here. A run-down on other countries far more reasonable plans are here. Sweaty geek outrage can be found here.

Obviously, Vodafone have the freedom to take their iPhone resale privilege wherever they like, although it seems that Apple did not look to kindly on providers who upset their customers over the much drooled-over device. So in this instance, if the Herald “Your Views” section is to be believed, Vodafone has used their freedom to walk off a cliff and spell the end of their business (Isn’t the crowd a fickle beast? Hard right when it suits them, socialist comrades when it’s something they want, plain frothing insanity the rest of the time).
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iYomu Shuts It’s Doors

iYomu, the “Social Network for Grown Ups” has gone the way of almost every other social network – tits up. A promising New Zealand startup made the fatal mistake of Web 2.0 – do not exclude.

The site was only available to those over 18, but it turns out that adults didn’t want their own exclusive social network and even their million dollar bribe didn’t muster up enough hits on the site to keep it alive.

Although boasting a healthy 100,000 members, the concept and execution suffered several flaws. Apart from excluding the most internet-active generation, the site was completely flash-based, inaccessible on mobile platforms and at times very difficult to navigate.

So another internet startup chalks up failure, not big news but the site and founders were New Zealand based so I thought it worth mentioning.