Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

Originally posted by sweetcell:
pakistan, or baltimore… tough choice.

Karachi is a little over crowded for me, but did enjoy Islamabad. The lack of a large body of water near the city is a huge deterrent though. I like my ocean boundaries. Makes me feel safe.

Truthfully, ClearWire will go forward out here with or without Sprint so I won't have to move. It would sure make my life easier if Sprint would just do it, however.

speaking of sprint, how much do they charge their wireless users for blackberry service. i went to get a blackberry at an at&t store, and its $30 a month for data

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
speaking of sprint, how much do they charge their wireless users for blackberry service. i went to get a blackberry at an at&t store, and its $30 a month for data

It's about the same.

Data without a blackberry is much cheaper.

well hell. i might as well get the iphone for that. its $20 a month

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
well hell. i might as well get the iphone for that. its $20 a month

I pay $5 a month for unlimited data on my non-blackberry Sprint phone.

My office pays $30 a month for unlimited data on my Verizon Moto Q.

i pay something like that for my regular old phone. really i just want the organizer features, but i might as well just get a stand alone pda. $30 a month is nuts

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
i pay something like that for my regular old phone. really i just want the organizer features, but i might as well just get a stand alone pda. $30 a month is nuts

You could get a non-blackberry PDA. That would only cost $5 a month for unlimited data on Sprint.

oh there's a difference? sprint has treos, but for at&t i dismissed their other pdas because i'm against windows mobile

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
oh there's a difference? sprint has treos, but for at&t i dismissed their other pdas because i'm against windows mobile

I don't know about at&t, but for Sprint there's a Blackberry data price (~$30) and a Smartphone data price (starting at $5). Smackette's Treo 750w costs me $5 a month for unlimited data.

looks like it is the same price for pda. i swear i can never get through more than 1 contract without switching providers

keep in mind

Reports that Apple is cutting production orders on current iPhone models support rumors that a 3G version of the cutting-edge device is in the works for midyear, analysts say.

http://www.cio-today.com/news/Apple-Expected-to-Offer-3G-iPhone/story.xhtml?story_id=031002C3YJGO

Originally posted by pdx pollard:
keep in mind

Reports that Apple is cutting production orders on current iPhone models support rumors that a 3G version of the cutting-edge device is in the works for midyear, analysts say.

I will be shocked if you have both a 3G network and a 3G iPhone by October. I wish you the best though.

And for me: no slingbox, no phone.

ok, another crazy question:
can i put my at&t sim card in a nextel blackberry and have it work

Originally posted by vansmack:
You could get a non-blackberry PDA. That would only cost $5 a month for unlimited data on Sprint.

unlimited data costs me $15/month on my sprint phone.

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
ok, another crazy question:
can i put my at&t sim card in a nextel blackberry and have it work

I'm not an expert on Nextel (or blackberry for that matter), but if it's a GSM phone and you have a GSM chip, you should be able to move it to another carrier (although some proprietary functions could be blocked).

You can check blackberryforums.com to see if your particular model is locked down to a particular manufacturer and/or if there is a hack to unlock.

OK - it's time for a smackie election prediction.

No, not the US election, that one's too easy because there are rules and procedures and monitors and a formidable constitution.

I'm talking about the big election in Pakistan on Monday.

So here are the early Polls:

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• &lt;font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda"&gt;50% said they would vote for the PPP (Bhutto's Party now being run by her widower, Asif Zardari&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
• &lt;font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda"&gt;22% said they would vote for PML(N) led by Nawaz Sharif&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
• &lt;font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda"&gt;14% said they will vote for PML(Q), led by incumbent President Pervez Musharraf&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

<font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">
Well, that's a clear cut victory for the PPP, right? Not so much. Depsite slipping approval ratings (currently at about 15%), the longer this election took to happen, the more time President Musharraf had to rig the election. So much effort was put into rigging this election that the largest group that monitors the election has pulled out citing a prohibition Musharraf put on exit polling and a fear for their safety.

What is needed is a two-thirds majority for PPP and PLM-N to overturn all the Constitutional changes Musharraf made to maintain power, and all the polls indicate this will happen.

But the reality is it won't happen. There will be violence on Monday, and that will be cited for "discrepancies" in the election process. The turnout will officially be declared lower than what the PPP and PLM-N will argue were the actual numbers, and Musharraf will delcare himself the winner (with the help of his spies, of course).

If you think the election upheval in Kenya is bad - wait until Tuesday morning. I'd love to be wrong on this one, but Democracy in Pakistan is still a pipe dream.

Originally posted by vansmack:
If you think the election upheval in Kenya is bad - wait until Tuesday morning. I'd love to be wrong on this one, but Democracy in Pakistan is still a pipe dream.

At least the Pakistanis dress well when they riot

<img src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2007/0711/wpakistan_1119.jpg" alt=" - " />

<img src="http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/photoessay_1514_images/0312071051_M_031207_pakistan.jpg" alt=" - " />

This is quickly becoming Smackie's worst prediction. Ever.

Wal-Mart to only sell Blu-ray DVDs
Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:22pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Friday said it plans to exclusively back the Blu-ray high definition movie format, the latest blow to the rival HD DVD camp backed by Toshiba Corp.

In a statement on it Web site, Wal-Mart said that over the next few months it will phase out sales of HD DVD systems and discs, and by June will sell only Blu-ray products.

The decision marks the third retailer this week to turn its back on HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray, which was developed by Sony Corp.

(Reporting by Franklin Paul; editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Don't feel so bad. After all, this is the first time Sony's ever won a format war.