It’s inevitable. Any doubters at this point are playing devil’s advocate on purpose, just to be asses. Verizon is scrambling to get it’s 4G LTE network finalized for the 2009 holidays, allegedly to make way for the rumored Apple Tablet and/or iPhone. I can’t say I know anything more than other speculators but I can tell you one thing: Next summer when the iPhone 4G debuts (hopefully with the upgraded Samsung ARM processors that finally reach the 1GHz mark) for Verizon’s better and faster LTE network I’ll be taking my contract with AT&T and wiping my ass with it.

At this point what is there to lose? After all AT&T has turned into the “fuck the customer base, we can do what we want” bully company that no one likes. It’s nearly August, where is my [carrier-sanctioned] tethering plan? Where is my MMS capabilities? It’s mid-2009, MMS is practically an unalienable right for any mobile carrier. I know that Apple is partially to blame for being so late to the game but let’s be honest, the rich set of features that come with the iPhone more than make up for the fact it is/was lacking in other areas like MMS and camera abilities. All other carriers have their MMS in order, I guess it’s pretty telling that AT&T is refusing to unlock that gate for it’s iPhone customers only. Talk about discriminatory practices.

It’s not like Verizon’s network is shit either, they’re “America’s most reliable” and are even taking action to have that claimed court-backed. I’m sure their service can outpace that of AT&T. The LTE architecture itself isn’t even riddled with doubt, AT&T is planning to eventually get around to upgrading to it as well… in 2011. That’s AT&T-speak for 2012 though, once again coming a day late and a dollar short. Verizon just seems to be on the crest of the wave, always a step ahead whether it’s FiOS or looking ahead to 4G and beyond and taking the right steps. Meanwhile what is AT&T doing exactly? Upgrading their towers to 7.2 Mbps instead of 3.6? Blocking websites with questionable content because there was a spoofed DDoS attack from their IP? Playing at being police because they love being the government’s lapdog and bending over and grabbing their ankles when the NSA comes-a-knockin?

I say fuck that. June of 2010 will be my last stint with AT&T. I don’t think there’s any reason for it to go any longer than it has. Anyone who can stand up for them has no idea what they’re talking about. You know the only reason I can’t MMS right now is a check box on my internal profile for allowing it? Are you serious AT&T? Another benefit for jumping a sinking ship is the fact that after my $100 ETF for AT&T, I’ll be grabbing the newest model at the subsidized price instead of having to hawk my phone on eBay again to cover my upgrading expenses. You’d think AT&T would recognize these warning signs and pay attention to its customers and, you know, do anything short of blowing them in order to keep them but who knows. Maybe AT&T execs think that becoming the next Sprint is a good thing.

Sources:

Update!

It appears that the recent yank of Sean Kovacs’ ‘GV Mobile‘ Google Voice app and the subsequent rejection of Google’s own Voice app were due to AT&T’s police-like barricade on anything they don’t really like. (See also: Skype over 3G)

This has seriously taken a turn for the worse and further cements AT&T’s feet in concrete shoes. Adios fellas.

Source:

• Who Killed The Google Voice iPhone Application?

The Internet is a worldwide double edged sword. Allowing people to have unprecedented access to accept and gather information is fantastic. The balance to this equation however is enough to overwhelm the novices and continue to harden the veteran users. Rome had their Colosseum, contemporary sports have their stadiums, and cyber-warriors will have their forums.

Forums are the everyman’s battleground. A chance to diminish and obliterate some unsuspecting n00b or to challenge the near-infallible veteran troll. These battles wage until one person often just gives up and leaves, leaving the victor to soak in the e-glory of his latest e-kill. For the most part these fights are victimless but quite a few times intelligence, reason, and logic are not involved in the victory.

With this in mind I present: The Top 9 Things the Forum Nerds Will Never Admit

(continue reading…)

Awhile back, actually way back to August 5th I wrote a post (pops) that described my distaste for morons on Apple’s App Store, specifically in the review area. This summed up my feelings from that post:

It’s my opinion Apple should block all reviews from folks who do not actively have the app installed. This would bar the idiot group from rating products they themselves have never even tried. I’m sick of missing out on great apps because the review is 3 stars out of 5 but it’s only low because some fucking douche doesn’t want to fork over the pocket breaking $4.99 for the shit. If you want to bitch and moan about prices, the developers leave a website in the info section for you. You can go to the website and find a contact or feedback link and utilize this to your hearts content. Then they can be the ones laughing at how much of a retard you sound like because u actlly tak lik dis, mang, wtf is rong wit ur head??!?!

Well as it turns out Apple did exactly that over the weekend per Gizmodo:

Unlike their usual tack lately, Apple is doing something at the App Store that actually helps developers. Before, you could review—and slam—any app you wanted willy-nilly, even if you didn’t own it. That changed over the weekend—now you have to own an app before you can review it, preventing an onslaught of one-star reviews for Tetris simply because EA is charging eight bucks for it.

The bulk of the story can be found over at Silicon Alley Insider. As for myself, I’m just happy something I really wanted changed actually got changed and I’m glad I wasn’t the only one pulling for this. There is no difference between judging (rating) an application based on its price than there is judging a book by it’s cover. With that in mind could these morons who low-ball an app review due to price be more prone to bigotry and sexism? They seem selfishly quick to judge, my guess is there could be a link between the two.

You heard it here first.

The Internet is a worldwide double edged sword. Allowing people to have unprecedented access to accept and gather information is fantastic. The balance to this equation however is enough to overwhelm the novices and continue to harden the veteran users. Rome had their Colosseum, contemporary sports have their stadiums, and cyber-warriors will have their forums.

Forums are the everyman’s battleground. A chance to diminish and obliterate some unsuspecting n00b or to challenge the near-infallible veteran troll. These battles wage until one person often just gives up and leaves, leaving the victor to soak in the e-glory of his latest e-kill. For the most part these fights are victimless but quite a few times intelligence, reason, and logic are not involved in the victory.

With this in mind I present: The Top 9 Things the Forum Nerds Will Never Admit (Part 1)

(continue reading…)