smojo, social web, android and more

It has been 12 months since my last phone purchase. For a year I’ve been using the HTC Dream aka G1. The phone’s been awesome to use and it has been fun to watch the evolution of android. The G1 is a special phone because it was not only the 1st android phone but it has a huge amount of people developing custom roms and themes for it. The phone has also been my only internet connection for many months. I’ve even started using it to connect my ps3 and play Call of Duty online. There is not much the phone can not do. The only downside I’ve seen to the phone is the camera. But that is a problem with many cell phones. Something I hope HTC and the rest of the phone makers work to improve. Parting with my G1 will be hard but I think it is time for a change.

Photo Credit: Boy Genius Report

Rumors have been going around for months about Google coming out with its own phone. Those rumors have turned out to be true. Over the past few days lots of information and even a few pictures have been leaking out about the Google Phone dubbed Nexus One. It really is a sexy looking phone. All the specs and pricing haven’t been released yet but many people are saying that it will be released on January 5th with the price tag of $199. Inside the phone is a speedy snapdragon processor. The camera on the nexus one should be a big improvement from my G1. It is supposed to be a 5mp camera. The only thing that could make this phone even bigger and better for me was if it came with Flash 10 on it. But I don’t see that happening since it is taking Adobe forever to release an updated version of Flash for smart phones. I will be getting this phone the day it is released unless of course the pricing is wrong. Hopefully Google and HTC release some official information about the phone soon.

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Well Cable we have had a long and at times fun relationship. I can remember in my younger years spending all my time watching Nickelodeon sitting 2 feet away from the TV. I can still remember when I actually watched MTV. As I look back on my many years of having cable tv one thing really sticks out which is I don’t watch that many channels. At the moment I normally stick to a few channels. Comedy Central for shows like Southpark, Futurama, Daily Show, Colbert, and occasionally I will watch a movie or some standup. Cartoon Network for the new Star Wars cartoon and for Adult Swim. ESPN for sports (duh). TBS for Family Guy. When you look at what I just wrote you will notice that all those shows are available for me to watch online with the exception of sports.

So when the New Year hit I asked myself the question. Why am I paying over 60 dollars a month for 200+ channels if I am only watching 6 channels. The way the cable companies have their pricing does not fit how I watch TV. So I am going to stop giving them money until they change the way they do their pricing. My local cable company is Cox Communications. At the time of writing they only have 2 different packages available. One is for basic cable which costs $22 a month. Their basic cable channels are a joke. Channels 2 to 22. The majority of the channels you can get with antennas. The next package they have is for digital cable which is for 60 dollars a month. This package gives you over 250 channels. Why so little customization? I want options! Why am I paying for channels I will never watch? I can’t think of any other service that works this way.

Goodbye to you Cable TV. Maybe one day you will give your customers more options. Maybe one day you will let your customers pay for only the channels they choose. You have the technology to do it so stop being greedy.

In my next post I will show some alternatives to having cable.

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