Technology Sometimes Sucks

Now I am sure some of you think that I am the king of tech, I have the Beerbox, and the Pizza Box tablet PC, but the truth is, I run away from the 'bleeding edge'. It it always overpriced and for me, over equipped.

I am proud to say that I am the proud owner of only one cell phone, and I have never switched it on, I have never tried to connect it to a cell network, and to be honest with you I have no clue where it lives inside the apartment. I was given the phone, and it looked like a fun project to convert it to something useful, like a coffee cup warmer (those Ni-Cad batteries run hot!). Plan B was to duct tape it to a Toilet Bowl Brush and create a vibrating sonic toilet cleaner. Neither plan has come to fruition!

Just because I don't use tech, does not mean that I do not follow it in the press. The tech story of the past week has to be the iPhone. This nerdy and incredibly overpriced device has been selling better than Viagra! When you combine the hugely inflated sale price, with the even more inflated AT&T contract, you end up with a device that is going to cost you over $1000 a year!

Some enterprising nerds decided to tinker, and found a way to unlock the phone from it's reliance on the AT&T network, in other words, you could brag to your nerdy friends that now your $600 phone was only costing you $800 a year! Harvard MBA's take note, that means in only 3 years you have paid for the stupid thing.

Apple didn't like this, it is rumoured that AT&T are giving Apple a monthly 'kick back' for every 2 year contract, so if all these nerds moved their service to Joes Cellular' the payola would be over. Usually this kind of monopolistic action is frowned upon, but Apple seems to have friends in high places, they have effectively played the same trick with iTunes.

In a move that only Apple could get away with, they have released a 'downgrade' to the iPhone, and if you are one of those nerds that played in the innards, you are in for a depressing discovery, your $600 nerd-mobile is now an ineffectual door stop! My recommendation is to duct tape it to a brick, that will improve the 'door stop' abilities.