bloggie blog

You’ve heard about the digital divide, right? There will always be inequalities in the world, but this phrase refers to the new ways in which we are seeing a divide between the haves and the have-nots with new technologies.

Today I would like to take a moment to applaud AT&T on this front. Here in LA, some of the wealthiest neighborhoods have the worst AT&T coverage. I’m talking about the Hollywood hills, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Man, do I admire the Socialist-Commie-Pinko-Democrat-Bleeding-Hearts at AT&T who brazenly do not cater to their richest constituents.

AT&T, you looked at the only neighborhoods in town that could afford iPhones, and you told them to suck it. You go, AT&T!

All My Sons is going well every night and I’ve gotten some nice feedback, but last night? Well, I got a lovely compliment from audience member David Hartman, former host of Good Morning, America! I was gabberflasted.

As an iPhone user, I’ve been intrigued by the changes AT&T has proposed in its data rates. “Intrigued” because it seems like that rare change that will benefit a ton of consumers. (See David Pogue’s take.)

However, I use a lot of data. Twice the amount needed to qualify for the $15/month savings that I’d hoped for. And since the new plans are capped, maybe it’s not worth giving up unlimited for any cap in order to save $5/month. The included graph shows my data plan usage from AT&T’s wireless account page. I’m at 400 MB/month pretty consistently. What’s your usage?

Wry, intelligent humor from the July/August issue of The Atlantic:

Newly Conventional Ideas That Were Once Unthinkable
You might have slept with Tiger Woods
There’s a Ford in your future
Your mom is too cool for Facebook
Republicans to Democrats: Hands off our Medicare!
Russians suck at winter sports
Gay marriage
Inspector Clousseau: Mossad agent
The white minority
Eliot Spitzer, public figure

I just made 2 cups of almond milk using this recipe and this bag. Not bad, not bad at all. Delicious, in fact. My blender is noisy, otherwise, because you squeeze it out quick-like, this is easy-peasy and totes yummers.

Over the last 3 days, I’ve had a lot of replacement parts to my black MacBook. Thanks to AppleCare and my 2 external backups, it’s been pretty painless, if a little time consuming. I got new RAM, and an unexpected boost from 2GB to 3GB. Then I needed a new hard drive, too, and an unexpected boost from Mac OS X 10.5 to 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

Embracing change, I switched the DNS servers on our Time Capsule settings from Time Warner Cable’s default values to the settings over at OpenDNS. The internets have gotten peppier with every one of the above changes. Upgrading your RAM or your OS will probably cost most of you money, but you can all upgrade to OpenDNS for free … and I highly recommend you give it a shot!

Just be sure to write down your current settings so you can reverse them if it doesn’t make things peppier for you. (Sidebar: If you say it in French, a peppier might be the guy that walks around fancy restaurants to grind some pepper on your soupe or salade.)

When I first heard of Carmen Trutanich, I thought he was a she. Sorry, Carmen! Years of Laverne and Shirley can only go so far in opening the eyes of my otherwise sheltered upbringing. (Okay, that guy was a Carmine. But still….)

Mr Trutanich is the city attorney. A couple of days after learning who he was, I called his office and said thanks. I even tweeted that call! The thanks was for AB 1319 and its protection against advance-fee talent scams, both egregious and subtle. Many actors only hate egregious scams, I support clamping down on the subtle ones, too. Misguided actors are complaining. Why don’t you call him up and thank him for doing some good in the world?