The number you have dialed is not in service… OR baaaad hold music.  Whatever.  You pick…

Sigh.

I was sooo looking forward to picking up an iPhone, and in fact was going to take the day off of work to stand in the looong lines so that I could pick one up.

But I saw the cost of the plans, and well… there is no iPhone in my future.  The plans are just to damn expensive and they give you sooooo little.  Unfortunately in Canada, it appears that all the phone companies are watching each others backs. 

Fido won’t do anything to upset Rogers (Rogers owns FIDO).  Bell plays the game, just as well as Telus.  There are a handful of smaller companies, but they all rely on someone elses network for example 7-Eleven SpeakOut phone utilizes Rogers network and Virgin utilizes Bells’ network.

So in Canada you only have three players: Rogers/FIDO, Bell and Telus (who are all national carriers).

So how rich do you have to be?  Well consider what I found over at http://www.iphoneincanada.ca/

How Much An iPhone 3G Will Cost You Over The Mandatory 3 Year Contract?

Let’s say you choose the $60 plan as a bare minimum plus the $15/month voice value pack…

$199 iPhone 3G after taxes (in BC at least) = $224.87

$60 voice/data plan + $15 voice value pack + $6.95 SAF = 81.95 + GST/PST = $92.60/month

$92.60 x 36 months (3 year contract) = 3333.60 + $224.87 = $3,558.47 over 3 years!

The Plans – from Rogers

$60 Voice/Data Gives you…
150 daytime + Unlimited Evenings/Weekends (are you for real?!)
400MB data
75 Sent text messages
Unlimited incoming text messages (this has always been the case, advertising it makes it seems special)
Unlimited Voicemail (those capped voicemails inboxes are gone forever…)

$75 Voice/Data Gives you…
300 daytime + Unlimited Evenings/Weekends
750MB data
100 Sent text messages
Unlimited incoming text/voicemail

$100 Voice/Data Gives you…
600 daytime + Unlimited Evenings/Weekends
1GB data
200 Sent text messages
Unlimited incoming text/voicemail

$115 Voice/Data Gives you…
800 daytime + Unlimited Evenings/Weekends
2GB data
300 Sent text messages
Unlimited incoming text/voicemail

Voice Value Packs

• $15/month:Caller ID, Who Called, Caller Ring Trax, 2,500 Sent Text Messages and 2,500 Call Forwarding Minutes
• $20/month:Caller ID, Who Called, Caller Ring Trax, 10,000 Sent Text Messages and 6:00 p.m. Early Evening Calling and 2,500 Call Forwarding Minutes.

NOTE that Fido customers with the $20/month plan get 5pm evenings!

Now… either Rogers/Fido will consider the backlash and adjust their pricing, OR revealing the pricing as it currently is was a ploy to generate even more hype about the iPhone.  Whatever the case, if a Telus & Bell version of the phone become available and their pricing is MUCH (MUCH) better than Telus/Bell will steal customers away.

Anyways – no damn way I’ll be spending $4k over three years to own an iPhone that will probably sell for around $199.00 + taxes Canadian.

Until then, I’ll happily use my BlackBerry…

Technorati Tags: apple iphone, fido, iphone, iphone in canada, rogers wireless

Web 2.0 is not new. It’s been around for a while, but everyday there are new people entering the blogosphere, or starting up new internet businesses – where do they go for information? They can come here! We will be presenting a series of topics on Web 2.0 For Newbies.

The wave of the future is here… and it is Web 2.0. If you haven’t heard already, out with the old and in with the new.

Although aimed at the newbie, this will be a great refresher for even the experts – and who knows, we just might teach you something new!

Topics we will cover over the next few days are…

1. An Introduction to Web 2.0
2. Sidebar: The Future Of The Web is Web 3.0
3. Web 2.0 Websites
4. Social Bookmarking Websites
5. Weblogs (aka blogs)
6. Folksonomies – collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging
7. Wikis
8. Other Web 2.0 Applications
9. Web 2.0 Frequently Asked Questions

Stay tuned!

Technorati Tags: newbies guide to web 2.0, web 2.0, web 2.0 for newbies, what is web 2.0

I need your help.

I love comments.  I love to get them.  I love to leave them.  We recently installed CommentLuv, so not only do you get a mention if you are a frequent commentor on the site, but we use CommentLuv to parse your feed and get your latest post.

But I have a problem.  I need to manually verify most comments, because of the SPAM.  I’ve tried the reCaptcha plugin for WordPress, but it craps out the blog.  Something doesn’t work well and as soon as it’s installed and you try to get to the page to leave a comment – IE complains it can’t load the site and dies.  Really sucks.

Ever since we’ve started advertising that we’re a Google PR4 site, and provide the TopCommentators plugin and now CommentLuv, and we’re DO FOLLOW to boot – we get a lot of spam.  I hate comment spam because those that leave it obviously think I’m too stooopid to notice and will let them go through.

Yes, I do use Akismet and it works great!  But the problem is that it flags many legitimate comments as spam an sometimes lets the odd spam comment through.

So I’m looking to YOU for advice.  What captcha system are you using?  Can you recommend one that is light weight and easy to install and use?

Please comment on this post – CommentLuv enabled and working!

Technorati Tags: comment spam, commentluv, do follow blog, recaptcha, stop comment spam, stop trackback spam

By now everyone knows that Bill Gates has retired from active duty at Microsoft.

What will happen to Microsoft? Nothing… it will continue in its profitable ways well into the future.

Bill Gates – Timeline

1955: William Henry Gates is born in Seattle, Washington, on October 28 1955

1973: Enrols in Harvard to study computer science, but drops out during his third year

1975: Mr Gates founds Micro-Soft (later to become Microsoft) with his childhood friend Paul Allen on April 4 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

1975 – 2000: Gates serves as chief executive officer for Microsoft

1979: The firm moves from Albuquerque to Bellevue, Washington; it later moves to Redmond, WA, where it still has its headquarters

1998: Antitrust Court case United States vs Microsoft

1999: Bill Gates’ worth passes the $100bn mark

2000: Bill Gates and his wife Melinda found the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, an organisation focused on tackling global health and education problems

2000-2006: In 2000 Mr Gates assumes the title of chief software architect and stays on as company chairman; Steve Ballmer takes over as chief executive

2004: The European Commission fines Microsoft 497m euros (£339m, $627m) and forces it to offer a version of its Windows operating system without Microsoft’s own media player

2006: Anti-competition hearing in which Microsoft appeals against the EU’s 2004 ruling

2006: In June Mr Gates announces he will cease handling day-to-day operations by July 2008, although he will remain chairman of the firm. He says he will focus on running his and his wife’s foundation.

According to Yahoo – Microsoft stock (MSFT) closed at $27.63 on June 27, 2008. Bill Gates owns 813,130,446 shares – which puts his value in Microsoft at over $22 billion dollars – while his best bud
Steve Ballmer has about half as many shares which puts his value in Microsoft at just over $11 billion dollars. To put things into comparison, Bill Gates sits between the countries of Sri Lanka and Lebanon in terms of GDP.

What’s up next for Bill? Focus on charity work through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of trustees Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

You can read more about the foundation by visiting the site http://www.gatesfoundation.org and if you’d like a quick facts sheet visit http://www.gatesfoundation.org/MediaCenter/FactSheet/.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: bill gates retired, bill gates retires, microsoft

These editions are growing faster than I am!  Seriously though… we’ve got some great information for you this week.  It’s actually good to see the number of submissions drop off.  This is probably happening for a couple of reasons – vacations, good weather, laziness, “they” know that ”we” won’t publish their crap.

…and trust me, some people submit real crap.  Others like to submit, and love the link to their site but do not approve the trackback — which helps this site out.  If the trackback isn’t approved, sorry – we will delete the submission.

• Not really a MMO/IM article, but if you like gadgets then Adrian presents Nokia in cut throat competiton but surviving as topper posted at letmedefine.
• Bozidar Spirovski presents Rules for good Corporate Web Presence posted at Information Security Short Takes.
• Although we prefer something that is readable, this post has about 231 Diggs, so something must be right.  George L Smyth presents One Minute How-To – How To Create Something That Goes Viral Online posted at George L Smyth, saying, “David Meerman Scott explains the most important element when trying to get your business’ message out.”
• James Lee presents Massive Action TO COMPLETION! posted at Online Business Freedom.
• John W. Furst presents Email Feedback Loops And Some Internet History posted at E-Biz Booster Blog, saying, “Create a feedback loop and make sure you can rely on Email for even very important things.”
• Kathleen Gage presents Internet Marketing – What’s stopping your success? posted at Street Smarts Marketing & Promotions, saying, “Success for an online business requires a solid foundation. Your foundation needs to include specific systems. One system is that which will build a responsive opt-in subscriber list. Without a solid list you will face insurmountable obstacles to your success. Learn reasons why many people don’t build a list and what can be done about it.”
• LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS presents How To Start Multiple Businesses posted at LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS & PASSIVE INCOME.
• Matthew Paulson presents Grow Your Business with a Virtual Assistant posted at American Entrepreneurship.
• Melanie presents What Indiana Jones Teaches Us about PR posted at Rembrandt’s PR and Writing Blog for Startup Success, saying, “Learn PR tips from an action figure!”
• Robert Phillips presents Broken Windows, Broken Business posted at CYBERCA$HOLOGY.
• Robert Phillips presents Rules for Renegades posted at CYBERCA$HOLOGY.
• SEO Genius presents Marketing Articles | Marketing and Advertising posted at SEO Tutorials – SEO Tips and Tricks – Marketing Articles, saying, “Market and advertise your website, increase the popularity and increase earnings!”
• The Money Moose presents How To Effectively Comment On High PR DoFollow/CommentLuv Blogs For Backlinks posted at Blog Badly.
• The Shark Investor presents No Buzz = No Business posted at The Shark Investor.
• The Life Less Traveled presents How to Start Your Dream Company, Founders of Fred Flare Share Their Story posted at The Life Less Traveled, saying, “Move to NYC, start your dream company, work your butt off, have lots of fun, do what you love. Chris Bick, 1/2 of the design duo behind the super fun empire known as www.fredflare.com (Keith Carollo makes up the other half), gives us the inside scoop of how the pair created their dream company. Like all great American entrepreneurial stories, Chris and Keith’s plan started out small (they sold their first design, disposable coasters, off the back of a bicycle in SoHo) and hit a lot of bumps along the way (the coasters didn’t sell well, people thought they were bathroom tiles). fred flare has since evolved into a collage of all things cute and cool–toys and stationary, interviews with up and coming designers and musicians, travel guides to iconic and kitschy locales–glued together by the founders’ enthusiasm, hard work and and eye for fun. Ready to get inspired? Read on to find out how Chris Bick and Keith Carollo created their dream company, and how you can, too!”
• Tim Grice presents How To Build A Successful Online Business posted at Tim Grice.blogspot.com.
• havoc21392 presents Outsourcing is a Gold mine . Nearly 150$ in a day. | The Neotrepreneur posted at The Neotrepreneur.
• Terry Dean presents 10 Internet Marketing Rules to Live By posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean.
• Terry Dean presents What If Its Not Working? posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean.
• Terry Dean presents Internet Scams posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean.

Technorati Tags: Blog Carnival, blog carnivals, internet busines blog carnival, Internet Marketing Blog

If you’ve ever wanted to get into the domain game, and have some money to spare (I read around $100,000.00) then you just might want to pop on over to ICANN and get the ball rolling. Gone are the days of hum-drum, boring and the same-old, same-old. Who needs a .COM when you could have a .MOHAMED or .TRAVEL or .WHATEVERTHEHELLYOUCANTHINKOF. ICANN is opening up TOP level domains:

Paris, France: The Board of ICANN today approved a recommendation that could see a whole range of new names introduced to the Internet’s addressing system.

“The Board today accepted a recommendation from its global stakeholders that it is possible to implement many new names to the Internet, paving the way for an expansion of domain name choice and opportunity” said Dr Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN.

A final version of the implementation plan must be approved by the ICANN Board before the new process is launched. It is intended that the final version will be published in early 2009.

“The potential here is huge. It represents a whole new way for people to express themselves on the Net,” said Dr Twomey. “It’s a massive increase in the ‘real estate’ of the Internet.”

Presently, users have a limited range of 21 top level domains to choose from — names that we are all familiar with like .com, .org, .info.

This proposal allows applicants for new names to self-select their domain name so that choices are most appropriate for their customers or potentially the most marketable. It is expected that applicants will apply for targeted community strings such as (the existing) .travel for the travel industry and .cat for the Catalan community (as well as generic strings like .brandname or .yournamehere). There are already interested consortiums wanting to establish city-based top level domain, like .nyc (for New York City), .berlin and .paris.

“One of the most exciting prospect before us is that the expanding system is also being planned to support extensions in the languages of the world,” said Peter Dengate Thrush, ICANN’s Chairman. “This is going to be very important for the future of the Internet in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia.” The present system only supports 37 Roman characters.

Upon approval of the implementation plan, it is planned that applications for new names will be available in the second quarter of 2009.

Source: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-4-26jun08-en.htm

Keep your cheque book ready!

Technorati Tags: icann, top level domains