Much of the application is unsurprising, and even somewhat dated. The vision incorporates heavily-subsidized hardware (though not under a timed service contract) that can utilize services on a pay-as-you-go basis. Certain programs and functions cost more than others, and could be unlocked on demand. At first that sounds like a reasonable approach, but it's not just high-performance software that can be rented, it's high performance itself.

Described in the patent is a system by which individuals will be forced to rent different levels of computer performance, being shunted into an arbitrarily-slow mode if they choose not to pay. In other words, to play a high-end game, you'd have to rent not just the game, but a sort of unlock for your processor, RAM and video hardware, just so you can fully make use of them.

The idea of subsidized, service-fee based computing has potential, but not like this. It'd be hard to imagine Microsoft winning many fans by forcing users to pay to unlock the obvious potential of hardware that is sitting right in front of them. [CNET—Thanks, Gibberish]

AT&T Free Msg: Unlimited MEdia Net Packages will no longer be available as of 11/12. 1 MB and 5 MB MEdia Net packages still available. Call 611 for details

Hey, at least the message was free. The 1Mb and 5MB options will be little consolation to iPhone users, who can easily pass the 5MB barrier during a day of casual browsing and will then incur a hilarious $480 per gigabyte rate for data transfer. Is this punishment for not heeding AT&T's spooky warnings last month? Reader Cyber Llama relates his situation, in which he's got lots of company:

Like many other iPhone users, I'm far, far too cheap to actually pay for the iPhone Plan. At the 25 cents a minute rate, I only manage to do about 10 dollars worth of talking per month (most of my calls are probably a minute long on average) so with unlimited MEdia Net I get by at ~$30 a month. I'm quite sure I'm not a alone — lots of people don't want to pay for thousands of unused talk minutes and unlimited text messages that they will never use.

With that in mind, it's easy to see why AT&T's decision fills me with more rage than a sack full of hungry badgers. To make matters worse, I called 611 and the customer service representative had the balls to say that the reason AT&T was doing away with the unlimited package was because "no one used it" and it "didn't make sense to have it".

I'm sure we'll hear more about this, as people tend to respond kind of seriously when you effectively brick their expensive new iPhone (or Palm, or Blackberry), even if the plan wasn't necessarily meant for their device. Strangely enough the AT&T website doesn't yet reflect this change, but Ars corroborates. UPDATE: A point of clarification: this change will only affect customers who are using a pay as you go plan not originally intended for the iPhone. Customers who purchase the (slightly more expensive) iPhone Pick Your Plan options will not be affected. -Thanks, Cyber Llama