Texans Invade San Francisco!

Monday, January 24, 2011 at 3:06PM

Our bags are packed. Our boarding passes have been downloaded. We're sadly leaving our firearms behind. Ken and I are taxing our brains to discern what we've forgotten before we leave. All that's left is the TSA cavity search.

We both plan on getting a lot done while we're there, but are really juiced about having fun with our Mac compadres. Look for us on the floor of the expo or somewhere nearby and we'll give you a free drink card good at the Intercontinental Hotel bar.

WOOT!

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Thursday

Jan202011

Adding AT&T Tethering to iPhone Kills Unlimited Data

Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 12:22PM

I've never had a big beef with AT&T until NOW! I recently loaded iOS 4.3 on my iPhone 4 and wanted to turn on the new "HotSpot" feature. I went to the AT&T "MyWireless" web site and went through the steps to modify my plan. I thought it would be as simple as selecting tethering and paying the extra monthly charge. Boy was I wrong! When I got to the features selection page, this is what I found:

You can see that I am "grandfathered" into the unlimited data plan for $30/mo. The two tethering choices include their 2GB "DataPro" plan. Choosing either of these kills my unlimited plan according to this warning on the same page:

I wanted to make sure this was the case so I called AT&T and the agent confirmed my suspicion. If you're grandfathered in, TURNING ON TETHERING KICKS YOU OUT OF THE UNLIMITED DATA PLAN!

Joseph Kelley |

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Tuesday

Jan182011

Cry About Sir Steve If You Like, I'm Buying More AAPL

Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 9:25AM

With "Fearless Leader" Jobs taking his second leave of absence in so many years, the stock market is acting like panicked school kids who've seen a snake on the playground. Apple stock (AAPL) is down almost $15 this morning on the news. I'm watching it closely. Why? I'm gonna buy some more. I hope it drops more. I love a bargain!

Don't think for a minute Apple will lose its astronomical momentum because of this leave. At least not any time soon. Apple (with Mr. Jobs) has its business roadmapped for several months at least. The company will continue to mint money for the foreseeable future with or without Sir Steve. Remember, this isn't the first time this has happened. It wasn't a catastrophe in 2009 and it won't be one in 2011. Tim Cook knows what he's doing.

Also, don't forget about today's quarterly earnings call at 5 PM EST. If things go as expected, Apple will beat analysts' projections by a wide margin. None of these analysts have lowered their price targets of $450. If I can buy Apple stock in the low $300 range, I'm gonna do it! I'll take a 33% gain any day of the week. There may come a time to be concerned by Mr. Jobs' absence, but it isn't right now.

Joseph Kelley |

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Wednesday

Jan122011

Why There Won't Be a Mass Exodus From AT&T

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 4:30PM

Here's why:

Contracts. AT&T seems to know Apple customers as well as Apple does. By giving customers like me the opportunity to buy a new iPhone 4 for the "new contract" price, they now have a bizillion customers locked into a two year contract with a $300+ early-out fee. We couldn't leave even if we wanted to. Did they see the Verizon deal coming? Sure they did!
Good Service. Having been a long-time (15 years) Verizon customer, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of AT&T's service in my area (Houston). In fact, I have better coverage than I did with Verizon. While the consensus among tech journalists is, "AT&T sucks!", most of them are in San Francisco or New York. From experience, I can tell you that in both those cities AT&T does suck. In my opinion, AT&T got a bad rap from influential journalists convinced they are the center of the universe.
Reality. Poll after independent poll of current iPhone users all say the same thing. AT&T will lose 20% of its iPhone customers at worst. Given the terms of most people's contracts, that number will probably be lower. Let's face it, all cell providers go one step short of making you sign over your first-born and AT&T is no different. While it has become fashionable to curse AT&T, the reality is they're no better or worse than any other. Many people swearing never-ending despise of AT&T will just keep on keepin' on.