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AT&T Lets You Pay-As-You-Go For Notebook DataConnect Coverage
Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
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All-In-One Card Stamp Wishes You Get Well Happy Christmas Thanks Easter
Google Me Business Cards: Best or Worst Idea Ever?

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blash
11/23/09

In reply to AT&T Lets You Pay-As-You-Go For Notebook DataConnect Coverage
As emergency back-up for business people, it's good.

The problem is that it should be more widespread than that and for widespread service, the prices need to come way, way down. In Israel, people can get 2.8/1.2 cellular for $35/month, no data caps - a far, far cry from $60/month in the US with a 5 GB data cap.
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Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
11/23/09

In reply to AT&T Lets You Pay-As-You-Go For Notebook DataConnect Coverage
I'm not sure about you guys (and gals) but I read that headline as: AT&T Let's You Bend Over and Take-It-As-You-Go. Vaseline Not Included.
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weatherman
11/23/09

In reply to AT&T Lets You Pay-As-You-Go For Notebook DataConnect Coverage
I've definitely been in situations where I would love to have some PAYG data, and $30 a week or $50 a month doesn't seem too unreasonable. On trips a couple of times in the last year for instance, I found myself with no reliable internet and I absolutely needed it for business. At that point, paying $30 seems like a bargain compared to wardriving for a WiFi connection or trying to hack my iPhone for tethering, only to get 19.2kpbs. It's the cost of the hardware that is the only thing about this deal that I don't like. I'd have a hard time justifying the $250 that they charge for the modem without a contract.
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Edited by weatherman at 11/23/09 2:31 PM weatherman was starred weatherman was unstarred

AmphetamineCrown
11/23/09

@weatherman: I agree, the moaning about how this is high cost is kind of silly--when you pay for convenience, you usually pay a lot. See, for example, the comment about bottled water. Or take car rentals. Paying for data as you go, on the fly is no different.

Also agree wrt the cost of the modems. I can't see AT&T subsidizing the things when its PAYG. That hurts a lot.
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Mr.Gawn
11/23/09

@AmphetamineCrown: i still think this is a bit extreme, especially when phone/net tether is such a capability under a 20 buck unlimited plan...

from a martketing stand point, this doesnt sound like a good plan
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AmphetamineCrown
11/23/09

@Mr.Gawn: I'm not sure I understand--does AT&T have a $20 phone/net tether plan?
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Mr.Gawn
11/23/09

@AmphetamineCrown: in other countries ATT allows net tether, not yet in the US (and im crossing my fingers is around the corner)

but compared to Verizon which does allow for it, these prices are a lil, meh..

unless i misunderstood the topic and verizon's pricing

#tips
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AmphetamineCrown
11/23/09

In reply to AT&T Lets You Pay-As-You-Go For Notebook DataConnect Coverage
I think this makes an awful lot of sense for a particular class of users and AT&T is pretty smart for doing it. There are times when I'm traveling where I'd pony up the money for a day or week of wireless access. But, I don't get an AT&T card because most of the time I don't need it, and paying even $30/mo for unlimited data isn't worth it. $15 is about what people used to pay for Wi-Fi in an airport. And, yeah, while the data caps kind of suck, I think the audience they are targeting aren't downloading movies, they are probably interacting with email.

And who knows, you get business users used to the idea behind this, they start using it more... Pretty soon its cheaper to take on the $30/mo data plan, etc. I think it is a sharp move on their part.
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NotChoinski
09/21/09

In reply to Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
Talk about an Ass Swipe
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RE-L
09/19/09

In reply to Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
Wow, he seems to have a wedding band on his finger....
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Jrsy Devil's Bright Idea® promoted this comment RE-L was starred RE-L was unstarred

Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
09/20/09

@RE-L: I understand his marriage is on the rocks. After all, it was build on a house of cards...
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Edited by Jrsy Devil's Advocate® at 09/20/09 9:49 AM

RE-L
09/20/09

@Jrsy Devil's Bright Idea®: win
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superberg
09/19/09

In reply to Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
Dammit! Every time this guy does something I think someone wrote an article about me.

This Bryan Berg guy is the reason I started writing under a pseudonym.
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spannu
09/19/09

@superberg: Hey, you must be a huge fan! So tell us, which of Bryan's pieces is your favorite?
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superberg
09/19/09

The one where he stacked up google to make it impossible to find anything I've ever written.
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switchblade saints
09/19/09

@superberg: +1

superberg: There *was* nothing wrong with it... until I was about twelve years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys.
Gizmodo: Hmm... well, why don't you just go by B instead of Bryan?
superberg: No way! Why should I change? He's the one who sucks.
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Edited by switchblade saints at 09/19/09 7:13 PM switchblade saints was starred

GreyHammer
09/19/09

In reply to Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
what a tremendous waste of time and resources.
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GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
09/19/09

@GreyHammer: Agreed. I mean, once a key card is touched, it can NEVER be used again, right? Oh wait it can?

Well, that's besides the point. I'm upset we wasted taxpayer money on this guys salary. Oh wait, you mean it's his own "personal" time, and it made no difference to 99.999999% of the population if he did this or sat on a park bench for the same amount of time?

I'm sorry, what was your point again?
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met2art
09/19/09

@GitEmSteveDave_HasANewNameToda...: Maybe it was an intentionally ironic self-referential recursive meta-comment?
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GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
09/19/09

@met2art: How will this "intentionally ironic self-referential recursive meta-comment" affect the ship and crew Ensign Met2art? Will the shields protect us, or will Dr. Crusher have to enact Level 2 decontamination protocols?
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met2art
09/19/09

@GitEmSteveDave_HasANewNameToda...: I'm fairly certain we'll have to have Geordi run a level 1 diagnostic on all the context parsers in the LCARS library to make sure the ship's computer doesn't begin giving itself illogical orders that it can't understand.

In pirate-talk, I be fairly certain we`ll be havin' t' be havin' Geordi run a level 1 diagnostic on all th' context parsers in th' LCARS library t' be makin' sure th' ship`s computer dasn't begin givin' itself illogical orders that 't canna understand. Arrr!
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RainyDayInterns
09/19/09

@GreyHammer: yeah...everything we do must be efficient and meaningful, like time spent commenting on gadget blogs.
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FriarNurgle
09/19/09

In reply to Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
"Mr. Berg, would you care for any extra keys for your room?" asked the front desk attendant. "Why, yes I would. Yes I would." stated Mr. Berg with an evil little chuckle.
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The Lab
09/19/09

In reply to Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
House of card toilet or lego toilet? Never in the history of man have people faced such a great dilemma.
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Edited by The Lab at 09/19/09 1:50 PM The Lab was starred The Lab was unstarred

loslosbaby
09/02/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
The U.S. is so big we can't move into the future: in Japan they have 500 Yen coins, widely usable (now) and this in a country where you can buy underwear/beer/shirt/digital camera/train-passes-with-built-in-1-day-vacation in a vending machine.
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loslosbaby
09/02/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
The key thing about Suica is that its anonymous...like many things in Japan including pike passes.

But here in the U.S., we like it a little creepier and want ID information, like pike passes.
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Stephen LaManna
09/02/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
This sounds like it would very easily catch on in NYC. All it would take is to modify your metro cards to a wave opposed to a swipe. I'd use my metro card at 7-11 if I could.
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Brandon Drake
09/02/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
I lived in Japan for a couple of years, and before the Suica cards were available my wallet was full of coins. Japan doesn't have paper money for anything below a 10.

The Suica card is awesome and saved me loads of time.
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UGAdawg
09/02/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
Dude! They have swipe cards like this for the DC Metro. It's prepaid, usually subsidized by your employer, and swiped at the turn style.

[www.wmata.com]

As for the excitement of having a card loaded with money, we have those already called debit cards. I hardly carry any cash on my now days and only use my debit card for purchasing. I do carry singles if I know that I need to pay someone back or just to have in case I want a soda from the vending machine.

The one cool thing that debit cards have over the RFID chip tech is that it can't be read remotely.
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Purple Dave
09/02/09

@UGAdawg:
Just because you can't remote-read a non-RFID debit card through someone's pocket doesn't mean that they're 100% secure. I don't know how many times I've read cautionary articles about how debit cards can be swiped through a portable reader to capture the data while it's out of the owner's sight for just a few seconds, and federal regulations on debit card fraud are not nearly as favorable to the consumer as they are for credit card fraud.
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UGAdawg
09/02/09

@Purple Dave: Remote reading an RFID card is the least invasive technique. You don't even have to touch the person in order to do it. Whereas in your scenario you have to have possession of the card. That takes a bit of work. I still won't have an RFID chip on me that's tied to my finances. As for the swipe out of site, well at least you know there's a chance there. You SEE the possibility of it happening. Plus if there is any fraud you have a pretty good idea of where to start looking for a source.
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