The Ottermanempire.com

Let’s take a look at the quality of thought possessed by our alleged servants in the Phoenix city council this gem about the recent ban on “texting while driving”, despite an existing law against distracted driving and yet another state one making its way through.

“We’re legislating common sense,” Councilman Doug Lingner said.”

Then why does it need a law?

Cynical point 1:

This law is “needed” since the money goes to Phoenix while enforcing a general law on distracted driving wouldn’t be as advantageous financially, I mean the people just.. oh wait I mean 3.9% of the eligible voters of Phoenix just inflicted another tax rise to pay for 500 additional police which one hopes will catch most of those “do gooders” with a nice fine Secondly I don’t for a second believe that those additional officers will ever see the street and the money will go to something shiny that no one uses.

Cynical point 2:

As usual those super humans that have state jobs , like those that enforce the new law ,are… EXEMPT… in the state version. The same reason most of us have to prove we’re not on drugs while state legislators do not , what a lovely country you lost.

Texting-while-driving ban passed

Cynical point 3:

There is no way an officer can tell if you are engaging in legal ( dialing the phone) versus illegal activity and this law is merely a pretext to  allow the police to pull over anyone to start their “fishing expedition” 

Note that the newspaper of record doesn’t tell you the bill’s name or contents in either case.

Well I received a call from Nextel re my  letter submitted to them through a consumer complaint site  and the myriad mails to and fro their tech support.   I explained once more where my problem lay , that my trying a new handset out to see if the problem was resolved was not a year commitment. After restating my case they are taking the phone back, canceling both lines, no fee.

I’m happy. Once they get back on their feet and start to provide a better choice of phones for Sprint/Nextel  ( Cell on sprint, walkie talkie on Nextel)  there’s a chance I’ll come back( though only on an annual contract )   when they do.  It’s a shame that so many hours had to be wasted to get to this stage but I am glad I finally found someone to talk to  ( 2 people actually)  that at least  tried to get me a solution to stay with them, I tried it, didn’t  feel like it was a fair trade that I would have to extend my contract because it wasn’t working.    

Not over yet.  Phone has to go back, final bill received and a note saying I am free and clear:)  Still there is hope.

Why the bitterness?  Seemingly I can’t cancel my phone of near 4 years with them since , shock horror, the plan changed in 2005 and they added 2years onto it. Seemingly the person in the Nextel shop answered the question about adding a secondary number to the line requiring  the old contract. Well he lied both phones  have to go till nov 2007 or  I have to pay a $400 “early” termination fee.  Shame that the network is  becoming increasingly unreliable.

They  don’t have the old contract available , nor have I signed an update, so I would like them to provide the document to which they have said is impossible. Nextel’s service in the Phoenix region has  deteriorated over the last few months , they have acknowledged this problem   with their “hybrid” phones that run  calls over spring and keep the walkie talkie on nextel but  here’s the problem .

Been offered 2 free phones/ transfer etc that works on this system on an Annual contract  ie  3 months longer than they have “got” me for.  Doesn’t that admit that the service level has been broken ?  Or should I be the “good little consumer”  and just take a “generous” offer.

Sadly I am at a loss as to how I can argue against a contract I don’t physically possess or show that their conditions have materially changed since signing? 

My Me 2.0 post

No rush  the I phone is coming out in the summer which is a cruel and heartless trick to play on the Q using public. Apple , though I have not seen anything other than the site (I’ll watch the keynote at home later in QT)  but the thought that’s made “no thought just do it”  an apparent reality is gratifying. I’ve not been having that great a day with technology  as it is.  

So the rumored Apple phone and Widescreen iPod just happen to be in the same body, add in a fully featured browser a top OSX and what we have here is technolust writ large. ( so much so I am not even going to indulge in carrier bashing)

K this phone has a glass cockpit , it’s just touchy touchy  and if Smith had dialed for help , say from a scriptwriter, in I Robot this iPhone would not have looked out of place.   They’ve taken one of the oldest actions  flipping through a rolodex or your record collection and brought it into gestures that  look natural.    The phone’s  “aware” of it’s orientation and function and changes the display accordingly, disables features you shouldn’t hit when on a call, moves to landscape mode at the same time you tilt it 

Whoopee a camera.. I’m a real downer on these since the kind of results you can get out of the space a lens has to go in  invariably sucks. I have a really neat Sony with Zeiss optics that you can see chromatic aberration on and it’s a GOOD dedicated camera of it’s kind costing more than the iPhone so  please just stop with the cameras  it’s the  “new digital clock on a smaller item” that seemed to sum up Japanese innovation in the 70’s

Connections?  Frankly I don’t care about the phone section at all. While the  iPhone uses quad-band GSM and  Cingular’s EDGE network, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0  leave enough options to make this useful around the home  as a player, vid and organizer if someone can hack skype into it I am so there.

Storage, OMG  a mobile device that doesn’t come hobbled  with 64mb or 128mb  but a reasonable 4 or 8gb. Given Apple’s penchant for doubling the size of these in the first few iterations I’m not too concerned.

As for iTV  I need a raise, I need some kind of plan where pre tax  Apple purchases can be taken of my salary.. like a 401k  but maybe a 1024Mb?

What’s even cooler is Erin   was suitably geeked and cooing in all the right places : I had no sleep,   blocked head, unblocked bottom and  I need some sanity nap