I’m happy to say that I’m not addicted to e-mail. Or at least I don’t think I am.

However, I’ve come to realize that communicating through email is preferred to picking up the telephone by a fairly large margin. In fact, I actually prefer it as it lets me keep a written record of communication, not necessarily for legal purposes, but for organizational purposes.

During a typical day, I get so focused on the job at hand that if you want me to do something, you better send me an email. Why? Because in the process of verbally adding a …

I’m continuing to see how television is going to be a thing of the past. Well, not television in the broad sense, more the way television is delivered. Right now, my television programing, my internet connection, and my phone service are delivered over the same pair of copper lines. The same lines that just 5 years ago could only deliver voice service.

It used to be that you had a twisted pair running to your house for telephone and a coax cable running to the house for television and internet (of course before that, it was just rabbit ears…).

I am starting to see how digital data …

Sprint (S: chart, web, Y!) has been down in the dumps lately. Actually for the last several years (or more accurately since they merged with Nextel). They just wrote down $29 billion, or the equivalent of that same Nextel merger.

Sprint is a poorly run company, not just at the executive level, but all across the board (although new CEO Dan Hesse is making a valiant effort to turn that around). Their marketing department never really sold the Nextel technology, and little money went into preserving the customer base Nextel generated. On top of that, Sprint didn’t spend enough …

An interesting consequence of a Microsoft/Yahoo merger would funnel nearly three fourths if the U.S. email accounts through one huge data processing monster. What this means is that email accounts and a host of other personal data would be held by one company; something I suspect the U.S. government might squawk at.

Interestingly enough, 46% of internet users in the U.S. have email accounts run by Yahoo, Microsoft holds 27% and 29% use Google’s Gmail.

Personally, I’m not sure I’m crazy about having three quarters of the email accounts held by one company. In essence, there’s too much personal data being held in one place.

Then there’s the possibility of monetizing …

It was bound to happen (again). Today Verizon Wireless revealed new plans to offer a flat-rate unlimited calling plan. They say it is an effort to attract high end customers, which may be true, but I see it as a commoditization of the wireless industry.
The plan will cost $99 per month and offer up unlimited calling to anyone in the United States. Interestingly enough, AT&T trumped Verizon by announcing a similar deal for $0.99 per month more, but also eliminating any additional roaming charges.
It is clear to me that cell phones are becoming a commodity just like the old fashion predecessor, the land line, …

Last week I dropped by the Verizon Wireless store to snoop around a bit. My 2-year agreement was up, and my existing cell phone had taken a beating. In fact, the outer LCD display was cracked and non-functional from the time I put the phone in my pocket and then smashed my keys (in the same pocket) into the phone. Now I had options. Lots of options, and that is a good thing from a consumers standpoint.

At any rate, I had also been looking at my monthly cell usage. Between my wife and I, we rarely were using more than 200 anytime minutes per month, …

Ever heard of an ASUS Eee PC? Yeah, me either.

And the only reason I recognize the ASUS (short for ASUSTek, a Taiwanese company) name is because I looked into building my own desktop PC a while back. ASUS is one of the largest manufacturers of motherboards, found in Sony Playstations, Apple MacBooks, Dells, and even a few HP computers.

And by the way, they also make computers. Small ones. Real small ones.
The ASUS Eee PC has a 7″ screen, so it’s truly a portable computer, and sells for under $500. Its got about …

It seems that AT&T is no longer seeing the value of the pay phone.  The company announced today that its pay phones will be phased out over the next year. They declined to say how much revenue its pay-phone business generated, but the number is small and declining, after all, how can they compete with cell phones at $0.50 per call?

It’s interesting that a service long thought to be impossible to live without could be phased out of service, but it’s happening.

It certainly leaves one to think about what other iconic items once thought to be revolutionary will be a thing of the past in the not too distant future…

From …

Verizon Wireless announced yesterday that they will be revising their policy on allowing free-market cell phones to be used on their network. The change will take affect by the mid part of next year.

In effect, it will allow you to buy just about any cell phone, from any vendor, and activate it on the Verizon network.

This is big!

Not just because it gives you more freedom to use whatever cell phone fits your needs, but it also signals that the free market does have an effect, even in the highly competitive wireless industry.

What’s next? Perhaps more flexibility in pricing and plans, and even better, …

A vote today inside the FCC could lead to tighter regulation of the cable industry. The five commissioners from the FCC are set to vote on a proposal to include several issues.

First, they are to consider whether or not it should cut rates charged by cable operators to lease channel access to programmers by as much as 75% in order to encourage more diverse programming. Cable operators are required to offer leased space, but it isn’t used widely — mostly carrying infomercials and programming from religious groups.

Secondly, they are to decide whether cable operators should have to settle disputes with programmers …