But nothing is without a few issues. First, being an Android device, I’m a bit surprised to the thickness of the product being a 1/2 inch. I guess I was looking more towards that highly thin tablet the Capt. Piccard used to carry, wafer thin. Next, with the always connected ability of the device, why no browser? Or did I miss that? It comes with an MP3 player, might as well throw in a browser, not chewing up much data with that, even AT&T can handle that.

Next, and it’s not their fault, is that being an electronic device, it’s not airplane friendly. I fly quite a bit and have given up trying to use the ebook reader on my iPhone because of outdated rules of electronic devices on planes. have to be turned off when the door closes, and since a lot of flights are delayed, they close the doors and pull away from the gate (so they can claim on-time departure) then sit there for 20 or so minutes. That’s a lot of reading time I loose. Next, you take off and can’t turn on your device until you’re past 10,000 feet. Why not 8634 feet? What’s so magical about 10,000? And the worst part, when you’re within 150 miles of your destination or 30 minutes out, all devices must be off. So I’ve been carrying old fashioned paperbacks with me, and I keep loosing my place in the books. Would love to be able to use an electronic e-reader from start to finish, from the moment I sit down on to the time I get up. I’ll just have to sit in a window seat and keep a look out for the flight attendant I guess.

But with a $259 price tag, is it worth it? I think it’s maybe a little too steep but hey, gotta help America get back on track (although it’s probably made overseas).

Ok, so a quick followup, the first major kink in the armor. Leave it to the content providers to find a way to rub off the polish on the Nook. How, apparently the lending feature is restricted to just one time and even that feature is by the publishers choice. If I buy a hardcopy book, I can lend it as much as I want.

Unfortunately, the “world’s most advanced e-book reader” limits the LendMe feature to one 14-day period per book, ever, and that’s only if the publisher gives permission. You also can’t read the title yourself during the loaner period.

Nook, eBook Reader, eBook Device – Barnes & Noble.

First off, the health plan, why not run for Congress. Take a look at this. This is totally worth lying and kissing babies for.

Personal doctors on call 24/7. Coverage that knows no caps. No exemptions for pre-existing conditions.Those are the sorts of benefits members of Congress currently enjoy on the taxpayer’s dime, and the kinds of benefits Americans on a government-run public health care plan will never see if Obamacare passes.“One thing is certain: Congress will exempt itself from whatever lousy health care system it forces on we little people,” said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute. “Congress will get better insurance than you do because politicians always get a better deal under government-run health care.”While it’s not news that Congressional health insurance plans are posh, CBS News recently uncovered the details of plans – right as the details of the Baucus health care bill are being hashed out.Members of Congress can choose from five different plans, and have access to both the VIP Bethesda Naval Hospital and a reserved spot Ward 72 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, an elite division usually reserved for military members. Their everyday medical concerns can be taken care of at a doctors office located inside of Congress.Their premiums are the same as those of insurance plans with half the benefits, and the plans last a lifetime; not until Medicare kicks in do ex-Members or loose their Congressional health benefits. Congress has repeatedly voted down any provision that would switch their insurance plans to the lower-grade public option if Obamacare goes through.

That’s just great, regardless what I subject my constituents to whom I’m supposed to represent, I get a premium plan loaded with perks. I also hear that the lifetime pension is a great deal too. So just serve a single two-year term and collect money the rest of my life.

And in related humorous news, check out how it’s going in Britian with their health system. It’s soon to collapse under it’s own weight.

THE National Health Service has spent £1.5m paying for hundreds of its staff to have private health treatment so they can leapfrog their own waiting lists. More than 3,000 staff, including doctors and nurses, have gone private at the taxpayers’ expense in the past three years because the queues at the clinics and hospitals where they work are too long.

via Gateway Pundit.

NEW ORLEANS — At least two civil and constitutional rights groups in Louisiana are calling for a justice of the peace to resign after he refused to issue a marriage license for an interracial couple.The head of the American Civil Liberties Union in Louisiana and the Center for Constitutional Rights and Justice said Keith Bardwell should quit immediately.Bardwell is a white justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish in southeastern Louisiana. He refused earlier this month to issue a license or marry Beth Humphrey, who is white, and Terence McKay, who is black.Bardwell said he always asks if a couple is interracial and, if they are, refers them to another justice of the peace.He says children of such unions face troubling futures.

via The Associated Press: Groups upset man wouldnt marry interracial couple.

Dell Inc. DELL will close a North Carolina plant, putting some 905 employees out of work, as the personal-computer maker continues its restructuring.The company is in the midst of cutting $4 billion in costs the next two years as Dell deals with slumping profits and still-weak demand, especially among its key corporate customers.

via UPDATE: Dell To Close N.C. Plant, Affecting 905 Workers – WSJ.com.

Carrier pigeons are being used to transfer data between offices because bosses believe it is quicker than broadband. Computer experts at a South African firm said it took six hours to transfer four gigabytes of encrypted data from Durban to a call centre 50 miles away near Pietermaritzburg.

Staff at Unlimited Group, a financial services company, today attached a memory card to the leg of a pigeon called Winston who took just over an hour for the trip.

via Pigeon post faster than South Africas Telkom | Mail Online.

Seth goes on to say that they are working really hard, around the clock, and spending BILLIONS (with a raised pinky finger) to improve their network. So first question, didn’t they expect the increased traffic when introducing the world’s first fully smart, smartphone? Or essentially a computer that also makes voice calls? A device that is solely dependent on network connectivity based on the applications it has? If they can start this campaign then they can also rebate their customers on a monthly basis for the reduced level of service they provide, until they catch up. Sorry, but I’m not feeling too much compassion for them right now.

Next, I find it ironic that they on one hand, would reach out to their customer base and say they are doing all they can while on the other hand, do everything they can to restrict user functionality and features such as GoogleVoice, and the many other applications that they feel would erode their revenue stream. I don’t hear an apology for their anti-competitive practices, complex billing, or never-ending voice response units used in customer service that leads to nowhere.

No AT&T, sorry, not feeling the sorrow for you. You knew exactly what you were getting into, which is why you’ve signed an exclusivity deal to have the iPhone, and even paid Apple a monthly fee per phone. You knew what the market segment was going to do and you chose not to invest in the most critical part, but chose to address it after it became an issue, knowing customers would put up with it because they simply had no other choice if they wanted an iPhone. Well, hopefully, choice is coming, if the FCC acts accordingly. iPhone should soon be available on other carriers such as T-Mobile, Verizon and maybe even Sprint in a couple of years. Then you will be measured on features, cost and customer experience, not on the fact that you’re the only provider and we’re stuck with you. Better days and better choices are coming. You have an opportunity to correct things and make amends with your customer base by then, but I doubt it. For you, it’s about how many  customers you can retain while providing the least amount of service. You’ll work the numbers and tweak it till it’s just right.

via YouTube – AT&T Network 101 & MMS Availability Update.

And now, the Mac Snow Leopard Upgrade Chart

Any more Questions???

With recent earnings reports, it’s clearly stated that AT&T’s growth is dedicated solely to the iPhone for the wireless division. Heck, it’s the only reason why I’m with them, so they need to keep the phone exclusive. They know that when it comes available on other networks, there will be a mass exodus, including me, even if I have to pay the termination fee. And with them doing things like blocking innovative applications, it only hastens my desire for a quick exit from them.

AT&T T appears to be suffering a massive outage in its data network in the Northeast, and some parts of the Midwest, according to Twitter reports. And our iPhones are offline, too.

Whatever the excuse is, in this era of always-on mobile communications, its not acceptable.

via AT&T Suffers Massive Mobile Data Outage In Northeast, Midwest T.

Which leads to the never-ending debate. Either a national consumption tax or a flat income tax, one or the other. How about an experiment, alternate between the two on an annual basis for the net few years then compare it to the current system to see how it fares. I don’t think politicians would like that because it would obviously be successful and they would loose their biggest power tool, the tax code.

Car dealerships all over the country are bracing for a spike in sales thanks to the “Cash for Clunkers” program. However, some car dealers said they fear the program could end up being a victim of its own success.

The Federal Government is offering a credit of up $4,500 off the purchase of a fuel efficient and environmentally sound car or truck in exchange for old cars.

via Cash for Clunkers Driving Cars off Dealerships Lots – NewsOn6.com – Tulsa, OK – News, Weather, Video and Sports – KOTV.com | .

So moving on to the AT&T installation and it’s service. I had an install date that was to be on a Monday. The previous Saturday a technician came out and spent an hour validating that my phone line was qualified. Then took another hour to determine that my phone line was connected to a different box than what they had on record. Two hours, understandably, it was CWA Union guy. Nothing is efficient with them. I spend the next 15 minutes with him hearing him complain about AT&T, how they want to cut his pay by $15 per hour to match the uVerse technicians who do the installations inside the home, and how it looks like in late August or September, there will be a strike. Which got me to thinking, just how much did this guy get for two hours worth of “work”, tracing and doing a signal test on a wire?

So moving on along to the installation. The Monday got moved to Tuesday and the uVerse guy came by. This guy had me up and running in less than 45 minutes, no installation problems or issues. Obviously he wasn’t a union guy. DVR’s up and running, programed, residential gateway configured and explained, just went smoothly.

So now on to the service itself. Wow, many more HD channels than TWC and as far as the broadband speed, I’m averaging over 16Mb/s down and almost of my 1.5Mb/s up. My Mozy backups finish in a couple of hours instead of the dreaded two day notification using TWC’s max upload of ~450K that I was getting.

No on to some sad news. Right now I’m doing this post via my wireless broadband because I’m suffering my first uVerse outage. That’s to be expected I guess. No TV or network, and so Vonage is down also. Calling AT&T is more of a challenge than calling TWC which surprised me. I get the impression that while TWC is just clumsy with their support and is not up to date, AT&T is up to date but just very efficient in trying not to provide service. Case in point, their endless looping of their voice response system.

And I learned something new which is troubling. I went to watch a recorded show but realized you can’t without the service fully working. Apparently, you have to have a connection even if you want to watch a recorded show. The system needs to connect to Skynet to notify them of what you are watching. I found a thread about that on DSLReports here. That’s really troubling, they are monitoring your every move, even when you watch your recorded shows.

At some point, I would love to drop TV altogether. Just an Internet connection and use Hulu, Netflix, and over the air broadcasts. But for now, we’ll see how it goes. It’s been rock solid for over a month, up until the last two hours anyway.